


One Shot

by dark_and_terrible



Category: Biohazard | Resident Evil (Gameverse), Resident Evil - All Media Types
Genre: Blood and Gore, Crimes & Criminals, Detective Noir, Detectives, Eventual Relationships, F/M, Murder Mystery, Mystery, Opposites Attract, Romance, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-06
Updated: 2019-04-20
Packaged: 2019-11-12 16:14:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 31
Words: 66,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18014126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dark_and_terrible/pseuds/dark_and_terrible
Summary: Detective Ada Wong has found a third body in a spate of prostitute killings that are popping up all over Raccoon City. On top of that, she's being forced to tote a rookie, Leon Kennedy around. It's the likely work of a serial killer, and Ada struggles with being a part of a 'team'. Can she and Leon come to terms?Or are there far more nefarious things waiting for them?





	1. Corn Fed Rocks

♞

"How long has she been here?" Ada asked, turning away from the deceased to look directly at the coroner.  
"Maybe about three days," he said. "I'll know more once we take her in."

It had already been a long night for Ada Wong. This was the third body in as many days, and Ada was staring down an even longer night than the ones prior to it. 

"Who took the call?"  
"I did." 

She stood up, turning to find a fresh faced rookie cop staring her down. He was the kind of pretty that meant that they didn't generally have two brain cells to rub together. 

"Leon Kennedy, ma'am," he offered his hand. He was already decked out in full Raccoon City PD garb, which was at complete odds with his babyish face.  
"God, don't call me ma'am," Ada said. Ada was probably about three or four years his senior, but it made her feel so much older.  
"Sorry, ma--" he stopped himself. "Sorry,"  
"What time did it come in?"  
"It was around midnight," he said.  
"Where's the man who found her?"  
"Over there," Leon Kennedy pointed.  
"What did he say?" 

Leon Kennedy fumbled. 

"You didn't ask him anything?" Ada wanted to tap her foot, but she was sure the exasperation in her tone made it clear how she was feeling.  
"I did," she watched as he pulled out his pad. "He's a maintenance worker. He cleans up every night around this time. The door was unlocked, which he found strange..."  
"Alright, enough," Ada held up her hand. She wanted a cigarette. "I'll ask him,"  
"Can I be of any assistance?"  
"Don't you have a beat to walk?" she asked. She had been a cop once, for a very small amount of time. 

She walked away from him. She heard him following her. She turned to look at him, stopping in her tracks. He really was like a puppy. So earnest. She arched her brows in question without saying a word. 

"I've heard a lot about you, Miss Wong," he said. "I want to be a detective. I would like to help, if I can,"  
"You want to be a detective?" she asked.  
"Yes," She could tell it was hard for him not to say 'ma'am'.  
"How old are you?"  
"Twenty one."  
"Where are you from?"  
"Small town north of here." 

Hm, no details. Interesting. 

"Let me give you my advice about becoming a detective, Leon Kennedy." 

He nodded. 

"Don't." 

Someone called his name. He looked at her, agape, before he came to his senses and went in the direction of the CSI tech who called his name. Ada was glad. 

It was hard, sometimes, not to want to kick a puppy.

♞

It wasn't much fun, being the man to find a body. It usually meant one got to spend an inordinate amount of time at the police station, counting and recounting details that might mean that Ada was going to catch a killer.

A serial killer, she was beginning to think. 

She didn't think that the maintenance man did it, but she had been surprised before, so she questioned him and re-questioned him, oftentimes asking the same question but in different forms. He was tired, and nervous. He had a Styrofoam cup of coffee held in his hands that had long since gone cold. He kept squeezing it, as if it might relieve some tension. 

The siren song of a cigarette danced across her brain as she saw him light one. He offered one, and she declined. 

She kept telling herself that this time, she quit for good. 

"Do you work every night?" she asked, after he had lit up his cigarette.  
"Sometimes, when they call me," he said. "Mostly it's weekends, or whenever they've had a big event,"  
"What event were they holding today?" she asked, watching the smoke drift out from his nostrils. 

She leaned in, trying to tell herself it wasn't because she wanted to be closer to the smell. 

"I'm not sure. A conference or something. Scientists,"  
"Hm, okay," she paused. "So you head in around...eleven thirty?"  
"Yep."  
"What happens next."  
"I go into the storage closet to get all of the stuff I'll need for the night."  
"And then?"  
"I start at the bottom floors. I vacuum the carpets and clean out the public restrooms."  
"Okay," Ada said, prompting him to continue.  
"I head up to the second floor. Lather, rinse, repeat," he paused, smashing out his cigarette. "Then I head up to the third floor. I hear a thump."  
"Loud?"  
"No, not loud, really. But audible." 

Audible was a big word for a janitor. 

"So, I head in the direction of the sound. At first I think she's passed out." 

Ada watched as he squeezed the cup again. 

"But then I see that she's naked. And blue. I touched her neck to see if I could find a pulse, but you just know," he said.  
"You just know what?"  
"Death."  
"Did you see anything out of the ordinary at all? Even when you were coming into work. Anything that struck you as odd that you sort of wrote off?"  
"Not that I can remember," he looked at her, his eyes a bit cagey. "Can I go? I've got to get home to get the kid to school,"  
"Yeah, alright," Ada said. She gave him her card. "Call me if you think of anything."  
"Will do, Detective." 

Ada leaned back in the chair, eyeing the cigarette butt left behind. She pulled out an evidence bag, dropping it inside for good measure. 

A serial killer probably wouldn't be stupid enough to leave behind DNA, but Ada had to think of contingencies. 

She got out of the chair and made her way out into the station, heading directly for her desk. It was a bit of a 'pod' set up, meant to encourage team work. Ada didn't like team work, a fact that her boss, Barry Burton, frequently pointed out to her. 

"Rough night, Wong?" 

Ada recognized the voice, and couldn't help the roll of her eyes as she turned around to find Chris Redfield leaning back in his chair a ridiculous amount. She hated the way he said her last name like it was an insult, besides the fact that he seemed to be obsessed with the phallic nature of it, at least in English. Wong, Dong, etc. Utter tool. 

"You're going to fall one of these days," Ada said. "And I won't have the least bit of sympathy."  
"Heard you found another girl."  
"And I heard you have a brain between your ears," she sat down. "For my part, I don't believe it."  
"Ouch, baby." 

Ugh. He had been particularly difficult to deal with after she had 'accidentally' slept with him after 'accidentally' imbibing in too much whiskey one night at Biohazard, the local dive bar. It hadn't happened again, and Redfield made it clear he wanted it to happen again. 

Ada only made mistakes like that once. 

"Detective," she looked up to find Barry standing in front of her. "See you in my office."  
"Ooooh," Redfield intoned, like he was still in middle school. Mentally, apparently, he was. 

She shut Barry's door behind her. The yellowed slatted blinds over it rattled noisily. 

"What are your next moves?" he asked, flopping a file folder on top of his desk.  
"Still working on trying to get the girls to talk," she admitted. "The janitor wasn't much help. If I could get some more man power."  
"Listen," Barry said. "If it were upper class girls being murdered and not hookers, I'm sure we could swing that, but as it is we just want to close the case." 

It was a song and dance she'd heard before. 

"I have an idea," Barry said, leaning back. "Take Kennedy with you."  
"What?" Ada said. "No."  
"She bitches about man power and when I give it, she says no."  
"Who are you talking to?" Ada asked. It was a bad habit of his to talk like she wasn't standing right there.  
"Listen, I know he looks about as smart as a a corn-fed box of rocks," Barry said. "But he was the top tier at the academy, and he wants to help. And you need to learn how to play nice. What's the longest you've ever kept a partner?"  
"I don't see why that's important," she felt she was dangerously close to whining. "And he's a rookie cop--"  
"Hm, well, I think we're done here, detective. Give me an update when you have one. And take Kennedy." 

Shit. 

She heard him call out after she'd gotten through the door. 

"Go home for awhile, Wong, you look like you've been through a wood chipper."

♞

  



	2. Whiskey

♞

Ada walked home. She put on her trench coat and went out into the rain, aware that it was just a few hours before sunrise. She would be back before she blinked, but for the moment, it felt good to have a breath of fresh air.

She quickly walked down the street: if it was one thing her mother had taught her it was that she needed to walk fast in areas where there might be possible danger. Raccoon City had seen better days, especially in this precinct. It was inevitable decay, a city that was falling under the weight of it's own great ambitions. The whole area had problems with 'G', the new drug that had spread out like a very bad and very itchy rash. 

Most of the time, when Ada dealt with murder, it had something to do with 'G'. 

She resisted the allure of running through the facts of the case again, in her head. She needed to stay alert. 

Her high heeled boots made a clacking noise on the sidewalk. She wished she wasn't wearing them. She looked behind her every so often, a reassurance that she wasn't being followed. She was glad for the glow of neon that the store front signs gave off. 

Finally, she ducked into her favorite convenience store. 

"Detective," The kid behind the counter said to her, like he always did. It was a bit.  
"Hey Marty," she replied, making a bee-line for her favorite aisle. 

Alcohol. 

"Tyrant whiskey's on sale," Marty called after her.  
"It's named Tyrant for a reason, Marty," she called back, opting for something that was much milder. A little more expensive, but it wouldn't kick her like a donkey would.  
"I like it," he said, as she came up to the counter with a fifth of Lisa-Joy. "This stuff is for old folks."  
"You wound me," she said, looking at him in a way that suggested that he should stop while he was ahead.  
"Anything else I can get'cha, detective?" 

She would have bought cigarettes, back in the day. Now she just stood there in front of the wall of glorious, pretty boxes, wondering if she should. She didn't realize how long she had been standing there when someone came up behind her. 

"Excuse me," Young male voice. "If you're going to be a minute, can I check out?" 

She turned, ready to give him a choice burn until she realized it was Leon Kennedy. Jesus, he was everywhere tonight. 

"Kennedy," she said, disappointment obvious in her tone. "You're lucky it's you," she muttered.  
"What?" he asked, arching his brow. He had a cleft chin and perfect hair. It was irritating.  
"Did they breed you to look like that?" she asked, digging money out of her wallet. "Here, nothing else," She handed the cash to Marty, who was watching the exchange with some interest.  
"Breed me? Like a dog?" he asked, stepping up behind her and putting his items on the counter. 

She took note of them. Milk, a TV dinner. A six pack of beer. It was a sad bachelor meal. 

She was almost expecting that he was already married with two kids. He had that sort of fresh faced complacency that suggested it, but she didn't see a ring on his finger. 

Marty put her whiskey in a paper bag and handed it to her. 

"Night Marty," she said.  
"Detective," he tipped his invisible hat. 

Ada waited for the electric whir of the doors and stepped outside into the drizzly night. She headed in the direction of her apartments, which were definitely nothing to write home about. Not that she had anyone to write home to. 

She heard the whir of the doors again, and turned to find that Leon was following at her heels. He was still wearing his uniform. 

"Didn't they tell you that you can take that off when you're not on the clock?" she asked. "Why are you following me?"  
"I'm not," se said. "I live this way. Should I walk a few steps behind you, or is that reason enough to shoot me?"  
"You got jokes, Kennedy," she said. She wished she had bought a pack of cigarettes.  
"The captain told me I should get to know you better."  
"Of course he did," she said. "Why?"  
"Because we're going to be working together," he replied, surprise evident in his tone. "I was reading the case files--"  
"Kid," she interrupted him, turning to look at him. "Didn't they tell you not to bring work home?" 

He ignored her. He was picking it up quick. 

"I was looking over the case files," he continued. "Have you considered a serial killer?"  
"Why no," she said. "Also, I fell off of the turnip truck just yesterday and I still believe in Santa." 

Leon readjusted his sad bachelor meal, now bagged and hanging from his forearm. Did being corn-fed mean you were also an Adonis? It was annoying how perfect he was. 

"Is that your dinner?" he blew past her sarcasm...like a big, floppy eared dog. Either he was stupid, or he was determined to climb the walls she put in place to put people like him off. He pointed to the whiskey.  
"I was going to order Chinese food," she turned to face him. "You're one to judge, with your sad little TV dinner." 

He was sheepish. Was he blushing?

"You noticed,"  
"I'm a detective, kid," she stopped in front of her building. "This is me."  
"It's me, too," he replied.  
"What?" She asked, incredulous.  
"I live here too," he repeated, more slowly.  
"You're kidding."  
"Nope," he dangled a key in front of her.  
"Shit," she muttered.

♞

He literally lived right across from her. It was the perfect end to a perfect night.

She unlocked her door and slammed it in his face, hoping it would be enough of a hint that he should just turn around and go back to his own, shitty apartment. She knew they were shitty, because she lived in them. 

She looked out of the peep hole, watching him stand there for a few moments before turning around and heading right across the hall to his own apartment. She heard it shut behind her. He had looked crestfallen. 

"Damn it," she muttered, feeling a very small twinge of guilt for having been so mean. 

He was so earnest. So hopeful. She tried to remember if there was ever a time when she had been like that. She pulled her cell phone out of her back pocket and dialed the local Golden Dragon. It wasn't anything like what her mother had made, but she had long since stopped expecting that. They knew her, and they knew what she ordered. She barely had to tell them anything anymore. 

About twenty minutes later, she heard the familiar knock of the delivery guy on the door. She opened it, handed him cash, and shut it once the transaction was finalized. She set her meal out on the coffee table, taking a seat at the worn leather sectional couch that had been scratched half to shreds by her cat, The Colonel. 

She began pulling out the cartons. She kept thinking about Leon's TV dinner. 

Finally, she sighed and got up. What was it that Barry had said? She needed to learn how to play nicely with others? 

She went out into the hallway and knocked on his door. Loudly. Like she was a cop. 

He opened it. He was wearing a tank top. He had a beer in hand. She tried not to look at him too much. Ogling wouldn't have been prudent. 

"Detective?" he said, unsure of what she was doing there.  
"Bring your sad beer over here, I've got too much Chinese food."  
"Uh--"  
"Come on, Kennedy," she said abruptly as she headed back to her own apartment. "Didn't they teach you to react quickly over at the academy?" 

She heard his door click shut, and his footsteps following her across the hallway. 

She turned to find he had put a t-shirt on, something she could be thankful for, at least.

♞

He ate most of the Mongolian beef. It worked, because she usually had too much of it left and it usually went bad. He had a fondness for eggrolls, too, which he scarfed down in about two seconds flat. She drank whiskey from the bottle, and he finished off his beer. He had a few swallows of whiskey, but she had to give him credit for being smart - he wasn't going to try and keep up with her like Redfield would have.

"Are these case files?" he asked, noting the folders strewn out over her coffee table.  
"Yep," she swallowed back more whiskey. "Go ahead," she muttered. Alcohol made her more friendly. 

She watched him as he began flipping through them, examining the photos and looking over the notes. She could see the little cogs in his little brain moving, trying to make sense of the puzzle that was in front of him. She turned the TV off, standing up to clear away the leftover Chinese food. She put what she could in the fridge, though she turned to find that he was now standing in the kitchen. She jumped a bit. 

"Sorry ma-" he clenched his fist, holding it over his mouth. "It's a habit."  
"It's alright. I'm only a few years older than you, though."  
"I know. It's a position of authority thing."  
"I'm not used to company," she said. "You just scared me."  
"Do you know if the girl you found tonight was left there?"  
"Looks that way," she replied, loading a few dishes into the rickety old dish washer. "No blood at the scene, and she looked posed."  
"Hm," he said, leaning up against her counter.  
"Why do you want to be a detective, Kennedy?"  
"Why?" he asked. "My dad was a cop turned detective," he replied, finally. "What about you?"  
"As much as I would like to get into my sad back story, I'm afraid it's late and I've had too much whiskey."  
"Oh, right," Leon said, hopping to. "Goodnight, Detective."  
"Kennedy," she replied, watching as he moved towards her front door. She couldn't help but tilt her head and examine his ass as he walked. 

Boy, was she in trouble. 

She locked her door behind him.

♞


	3. Sh*t

♞

Ada's phone was ringing. It was ringing obnoxiously, buzzing and chirping on her night stand. She groaned, rolling over and reaching around for it. Like many nights before, she had passed out on her stomach in her underwear. The room was cold, and she hadn't bothered to get underneath her blankets. She shivered, reaching for her robe and pulling it over her bare shoulders.

She opened her eyes, grainy with sleep, and grabbed her phone right before the person who was calling hung up. 

"Shit," she muttered. 

Rubbing her eyes, she looked at the glowing screen. 

One missed call from Birkin. 

She dialed the number back, and he answered right away. 

"Detective," he said. "I thought you would be at work already."  
"Burton told me to take a few hours," her voice was raspy with sleep. She was feeling that unfortunate bend of exhaustion that a person got after not sleeping for so long and then only sleeping a few hours.  
"Well, you'd better get in. I finished your autopsy on Miss Doe."  
"No identification?"  
"She's got a tattoo, but that's all we could find. There was nothing left behind at the scene. No clothes, no personal effects."  
"Shit," Ada muttered, for the second time that morning. "I'll be right in."  
"Bring an umbrella, Detective." 

Birkin hung up the phone, and Ada stood up. She pulled her curtain aside to find that it was raining. 

"Shit." 

Third time was a charm.

♞

Ada got dressed. She wasn't limited to the standard uniform a beat cop wore, but there were limits to what she could wear. She pulled on a dark pair of skinny jeans and a low cut top over a bandeau bra. She had a leather jacket she wore specifically in rain, that had a hoodie sewn into it. She took a few minutes to blot some extra make-up on her face, but it was only really to the effect of hiding the whiskey-bag circles that hung out underneath her eyes sometimes.

Otherwise, her skin was mostly flawless, just like her mother's had been. 

She pulled on a pair of combat boots, the choice being driven by the rain and the feeling that she might be doing a lot of walking that day. She stopped in front of Kennedy's door. When she knocked, there was no reply. 

The kid was too go-get-em for his own good. He was probably already at the station. 

"He left, Detective," The little old lady diagonally across from her was shuffling down the hall with a wet grocery bag hanging from her cane.  
"Yeah, thanks," she normally would have said 'I gathered', but she saw no real need to be an asshole to the elderly unless they deserved it.  
"Rather early this morning," she said. "Do you two know each other?"  
"Yeah, something like that," she said. "Have a good morning Grandma." 

Grandma, a request she had made herself as far as her name went. Ada felt a bit creepy using it, but it seemed to make the woman happy to hear it. 

"Good morning, Ada dear." 

Ada had thrown her hood up. She didn't have an umbrella, despite the fact that it always rained in Raccoon City. She always thought to buy one, but for some reason, never did. 

Ada stopped at the coffee cart on the way to the station. The hospital wasn't really within walking distance, and she would have to stop and get her 'patrol' car, an idea that had come up from the head honchos to drop a bunch of money on expensive, unmarked sedans. People could still see them coming from miles away. 

"Ada," It was Carlos, the guy who owned the cart. "Usual?" He had an accent.  
"Yeah, thanks Carlos. Can you throw in a muffin?"  
"Cake for breakfast Miss Wong?" he asked, handing her her black cup of coffee. "You look good this morning. When are you going to go out with me?" He asked.  
"Carlos, you know I don't have time for dating," she handed him money. It was about the extent of their relationship.  
"Damn shame," he said, handing her the bagged muffin. "Have a good morning."  
"You too." 

She could feel him watching her walk down the sidewalk. 

Ada took a sip of the coffee and burned her tongue. 

She walked into the station having finished the muffin and half of her coffee. She tossed the bag in the trash and walked past the intake desk, and the cop sitting there waved at her. She nodded. Her sunglasses were still on, despite the presence of no real sun in the drizzly sky. She stopped at her desk, trying to avoid being detected by idiot number 1, who just happened to be at his desk. She wondered: did he ever do any real police work? 

She looked on her desk before slowly opening the drawer, fishing out the keys to the car. She saw the back of Leon's head. He was pushing paper, an unfortunate downside of being a cop. The police reports. He probably had a chunk to do, just from finding a body last night. 

"Detective," she heard Barry's voice. "Nice of you to join us." 

Shit. 

It felt like the whole damn station turned to look at her. 

"Were you aware that the coroner finished with Jane Doe?" he asked, his jovial tone was something not to be mistaken for actual joviality.  
"Yep, I'm on my way."  
"Great," he said, swatting his own leg with a hand full of manila folders. "Take Kennedy with you. Nothing like an autopsy first thing in the morning, Kennedy."  
"Yes sir." 

There was that gallows humor Burton was known for. 

She turned to find Leon was already standing next to her. Ada opened her mouth to protest, but Burton looked at her over his glasses in that way that suggested that he didn't have time for it. 

Ada mashed her lips shut and pushed her teeth together, literally biting her tongue.

♞

"These aren't like the patrol cars," Leon said, shifting around in his seat to get a better look at the car.  
"Nope," Ada said. She reached over and opened the dash. It bumped his knees. He had long legs. She expected an 'ow', but he just moved his legs out of the way.

She pulled out one of the hard candies she relied on when she was absolutely desperate for a cigarette. Cavities or lung cancer, you choose. 

"You might puke," she said, starting the car up once she got the candy in her mouth.  
"What?"  
"The autopsy, you might puke."  
"I didn't puke when I found the body."  
"Autopsy is a bit different."  
"It's not, really," he said it with a tone in his voice that suggested that he might have dealt with one before. She didn't push it. 

Funny how Kennedy gave clues about himself without realizing it. 

"Who'd they pair you up with?"  
"Claire Redfield," he replied. "Before he reassigned me to you." 

Reassigned? Burton had made it official, then? 

"Claire's a good egg," Ada said. She had no reason to dislike the woman, excepting her lunk-head of a brother. 

Who knew how people came out of the same family? 

"She's nice," Leon said, running his hands along the leather interior of the car. "Why are these unmarked?"  
"Idea from up top. People don't trust the cops around here. Of course, I didn't think spending thousands of dollars on a fleet of high end sedans was the best way to go, but what do I know?"  
"Don't trust the cops?"  
"Nope," Ada said, crunching down on the remnants of her hard candy. 

Leon handed her another one, without being asked. 

"Thanks," she said, consistently surprised by him. "It was an effort to make cops not look like cops. Communities around here tend to clam up when they see us coming, but they still see us coming."  
"Makes it hard to do the job." he said.  
"Yep."  
"Is that why you walk?"  
"When I can." 

Maybe she hadn't given this kid enough credit. 

But probably not. 

She pulled into the parking garage. It was filled up to the brim with cars, meaning that it took them a little over a half hour to find a place to park. Ada was grumpy by the time it was all said and done, especially with the fact that she couldn't smoke a cigarette to get herself through it. She chewed down about six candies during the whole time frame, Leon handing them to her as if he was able to see her irritation level rising. 

He even had one. 

The hospital pulsed and thrived with life, but the morgue was an entirely different story. The hallways were lit with a cold, sterile light, and there was only silence there. She noticed that Leon drew closer to her, probably without realizing it. 

It didn't help that it was in the basement of the hospital, to really give it that full on horror movie effect. 

"Ada," Birkin said when he saw her. "Wondered when you would show up. Who's this?"  
"Leon Kennedy, sir." he offered his hand.  
"Sir," Birkin laughed. "You're in for a storm, kid. I'm William Birkin. I'm the coroner around these parts."  
"Pleasure to meet you, s--" he stopped himself before it got out. 

Poor kid. 

He really was in for a storm. 

She realized she would witness it, the earnestness and eagerness slowly draining out of his eyes. 

Maybe he would become like her. 

"If you feel like you're gonna barf, kid, try to do it near the drain." 

Birkin pointed it out, but Leon seemed steely. His face still had color. Most of the time when she brought newbies down here they were already rattling in their boots. 

He pulled the sheet back from the body. It was what Ada remembered, but closer up. 

"Woman, aged twenty-five to thirty." 

"Ligature marks," he pointed. "Like the others. Probably a zip tie, or something small and hard. Petechial hemorrhaging in the eyes suggest she was strangled, like the others. I don't think it's what killed her."  
"What did, then?" 

Birkin moved her head aside, pointing out a minuscule puncture wound. Like the others. 

"Did you run a tox screen?"  
"No," Birkin said. More of that good sarcasm. "Of course I did, but I don't think we're going to find anything."  
"What makes you think it wasn't the strangulation?" Leon asked. She had almost forgotten he was there.  
"Hyoid bone remains intact," he leaned down. "The marks don't lead me to believe it was done with enough pressure. Probably just for fun," He paused. "No sexual assault, though. But it's pretty clear she was probably hooking for drugs. I found track marks." 

Ew. 

"Dental work is extensive," Birkin continued. "Might help you get a foot hold on who she was. And then, there's this."

He revealed the small, umbrella shaped tattoo that was placed out of sight, on her inner thigh. Just like the others. 

"Shit." Ada said. 

Surprisingly, Kennedy didn't puke.

♞

"Why is he leaving them for the cops to find?" Leon asked. "If it is a serial killer."  
"Some of them don't know they want to get caught."  
"And the umbrella?" Leon asked. "It was on all of them?"  
"Yep, freshly done, too."

Leon looked thoughtful. Ada had an urge to reach out and brush his hair out of his face, one that she very _strongly_ resisted. 

"I want you to pull all the missing persons records from the last few years, see if there's anything that jumps out at you. I think it's a good idea to pull the police reports from arrests involving Johns." she said. "Because they've all been prostitutes, maybe we might find something there. I'm going to go downtown and see if I can get anyone to talk." 

"I'm coming with you," Leon said, firmly. "This guy is a creep. You shouldn't go alone."  
"Oh, what, are you going to be my knight in shining armor?" She couldn't help it, the sarcasm just came and went in fits. 

Leon ignored her. 

"Fine," she said. "But I think you should change out of your uniform."  
"You know where I live," he said, sliding into the passenger side of the car. 

Shit.

♞


	4. Man Handled

♞

Leon Kennedy's apartment was a bit sad, just like his bachelor meal. Not that Ada had much room to judge, her own apartment was fairly empty and she had been there for a year or so. Ada noted there were no pictures on the wall, and he hadn't taken the trash out in awhile. Other than that, it was pretty tidy. No dishes, no dirty counters, no clothes strewn all over the place.

He wasn't a slob, from what she could tell. 

She busied herself with looking around, but there wasn't much to look at. He had a few books on his bookshelf, mostly text books and a few dog eared crime thrillers that he probably read because they made him feel like a detective. 

"Try not to act like a cop," she called, turning towards the bedroom. 

He'd left the door open, and she could see him undressing. She knew she wasn't supposed to look. He'd already gotten his jeans on, so what was the harm? 

Leon had the kind of body that came with being young. She had seen him eat, and she knew he could eat anything and still look like that, though based on the weights she saw lying on the sad beige carpet, he worked at it too. She watched the muscles shift pleasantly in his back as he finished tugging off his shirt and began the process of pulling on another. She noticed he had freckles along his shoulders, and it made her wonder if he spent a lot of time working in the sun with no shirt on. 

She wondered what it would be like to run her hands along them. 

Was he a cliche, or what? 

She was almost caught when he turned around. Quickly, she turned away, doing her best to make it look like she was distracted with the bookshelf. 

"You really think they're going to buy me as a John?" he asked, looking at her. He took a minute to straighten out his shirt, giving her a peek of the abdomen beneath.  
"We can say you're a virgin," she paused. "Or maybe that your sister is a missing person."  
"What about you?" the comment about being a virgin didn't seem to phase him. She wondered if he was.  
"Those girls know who I am," Ada pointed out. "While they're not exactly unfriendly, they don't tell me anything useful." 

Ada thought about it. She was sure she was tossing Leon to the wolves. He might get eaten alive...but she had a hunch that his fresh faced honesty might get them some answers. 

Those girls were suckers for attractive farm boys, after all. 

"Am I going to have to have sex with someone?" he asked, point blank. She wasn't sure if he was kidding or not.  
"Try not to," Ada said, unable to help the smirk that lifted the corners of her mouth.

♞

Ada put her gun holster on underneath her jacket. She wasn't sure that they were in any immediate danger, but she wasn't about to risk anything by being too confident. It was a rough part of town, full of pawn shops, paycheck cashing advance places, rundown grocery stores and apartments that had as much turnover as motels did.

It had been her beat when she was a cop, which was probably why she was so fond of it. 

She parked in an inconspicuous place. She wasn't sure she could watch him from the car, so she had the idea that she might follow him. She didn't want to draw too much attention to herself, however. They did know her. She dropped him off and decided to stay in the car. He had explicit instructions not to get too far out of view, and to text her if something happened. 

She had to admit, Leon was pretty patient. It would serve him well if he ended up being a detective. It took awhile for the girls to come out, and when they did he bravely spoke to all of them. They manhandled him and asked him if he wanted company. She wasn't sure what he had decided to tell them, but it didn't seem like they didn't buy it. 

She felt her phone buzzing. It was Burton. 

"Wong," he said. "Where are you?"  
"Watching Kennedy get man handled by hookers," she said.  
"Jesus Wong, that's a new record for you." 

She gave a hiccup of laughter. 

"I need you to handle another case," he said.  
"I'm working on this case," she muttered, shifting in the seat.  
"We're understaffed." 

It was a convenience store shooting. 

"Why me, Burton? Can't you send Redfield? Doesn't look like he's ever away from his desk."  
"Redfield is working that theft across town," se said. "Should be open and shut for you, Ada. No one ever said you get to quit being a detective just because there might be a serial killer around."  
"Fine." 

They were downtown for approximately an hour. When Leon crept back across the street and slid into the car, he smelled like cheap Raccoon-Mart perfume. He had lipstick on his shirt. He had been, quite literally, woman-handled. 

"Did you find anything out?"  
"They didn't seem to know anything about the tattoos," se said. "Did you ask Birkin if he can tell if they were done before or after the girls died?"  
"No," she was a bit surprised with him. "Anything else?" 

She watched him pull out a little notebook. 

"A few of them said there's a man who comes around maybe once every few months. They never know when he's going to show up. They said he changes his disguises, but it's always obvious it's him."  
"Why?"  
"His eye color."  
"What's that?"  
"Piss yellow, as Sugar put it." 

Sugar? 

Ada laughed and turned the car on. 

Hey, he had gotten farther than she had.

♞

"I'll drop you off at the station," she said. "You did good today."  
"You sound surprised," he said, lifting his shirt up and sniffing it. He crunched his nose.  
"You better burn that," she said. "That perfume won't come out," she had a hard time making it sound like she wasn't amused.  
"You enjoy my suffering," Leon said, smiling. It was, she could tell, a million watt smile.  
"Just think of it as a bit of friendly hazing," she said.  
"Where are you going?"  
"Convenience store shoot out."  
"Any deaths?"  
"No, Billy doesn't fuck around. He keeps a shotgun behind the register."  
"Billy?"  
"Billy Coen," she said. "Reformed convict. He runs Empire Market."  
"Oh, that guy with all of the tattoos and the greasy hair."  
"That's him," Ada said.  
"You don't have to drop me off," se offered. "I'll come along."  
"You smell like a baby prostitute, and your shift is over."  
"Yours isn't?"  
"Never is."  
"Can't argue with facts," he said. She was a bit glad that he didn't argue going along any further.

She dropped him in front of the station. 

"Goodnight, Detective," 

She waved at him, pulling out of the parking lot. 

The Market was a wreck. It had a 50s look to it, with an art nouveau, art deco look to it. There was a laundro-mat attached to the back of it. He ran both, and probably other things. Even if he claimed reform, Ada wasn't always so sure. There was always something happening at Empire. 

She parked and opened the door. There were bullet holes in pasta boxes. One of the coolers had been shattered, leaving behind glass on the floor. Ada was surprised no one had died, but you had to be pretty stupid to try and hold up Empire Market. She thought it probably had more to do with Billy and bravado than money. 

"Detective," Billy said, his voice friendly. "Wondering when you'd show up. Tell me, what do they pay you cops for?"  
"Pleasure as always, Coen," she said. She pulled out her notebook. "What happened?" 

She took down his account. He had seen who it was, some kid who was pissed that Billy hadn't paid him his last weeks worth of wages after firing him. There was another witness who could confirm that it was, in fact, the kid. 

"What about the security tapes?" Ada pointed with her pen towards the ones she spotted.  
"Yeah, I can pull 'em, but he was wearing a mask."  
"How did you know it was him?"  
"He's got that stupid tattoo on his arm."  
"What stupid tattoo?" Ada asked.  
"You know, the umbrella." 

Huh.

♞

Ada went back to the station after watching the security footage. It was harder to believe it was one kid now, especially since Ada had seen an umbrella tattoo three times before. She didn't believe in coincidences, really.

Time passed quickly as Ada began pulling old arrest records, trying to find some sort of connection. Had the guy with the piss yellow eyes been arrested before? Or had he slipped under the radar. She wished Leon had gotten more out of the girls. Did he try to hurt them? Did he try to lure them anywhere? Were some girls just unlucky? Did he pick them because he thought no one would miss them? 

She started going through missing persons reports, too. Surely, someone missed this girl. 

Ada had the address of the kid who had shot up Billy's store, but she thought it would be better to go in broad daylight with back up. It was never a good idea to go somewhere without at least someone knowing, and Burton was on his third glass of desk whiskey. She bet, in about fifteen minutes, he would get up and go home to his wife. 

She was right. 

She waved as Burton made his way towards the door. 

He gave her a brief nod, but he wasn't feeling vocal, thank God. 

When Ada looked at the clock again, it was past midnight. She shut her computer down, put her jacket on and headed out into the night. 

She made the poor decision to stop at Biohazard. 

She slid atop the bar stool, ordering a whiskey. She turned to find herself looking at Chris Redfield. 

"Didn't your mother ever tell you not to sneak up on women?" She asked, taking a drink of her whiskey.  
"I waved when you came in, not my problem that you didn't see me."  
"Whatever helps you sleep at night, Redfield."  
"Come on Ada," he said. "You've been ghosting me for months, at least tell me why." 

_Uh, because the sex was bad. Because you're a creep. Because you have no respect for anyone but yourself._

"Can't you let it go?" Ada asked, ordering another whiskey.  
"Come with me," he gripped her arm. She tossed him off.  
"Go away." 

He tried it again, and this time she shoved him off with more force. 

He laughed. 

"I believe she asked you to leave her alone," Young voice. 

_Oh no._

It was Leon. He really was everywhere. 

"She's got you too already, huh Kennedy?"  
"Don't know what you're talking about," he replied.  
"She weaves her magic and then she doesn't want you. Just a warning." 

Chris Redfield was drunk. 

"Oh, and by the way, it's not true what they say." 

Leon didn't reply. 

"She doesn't just sleep with anyone," he smirked. "Despite what she may look like." 

Ada felt sick. She reared back, and hit him so hard that he stumbled, hit his head on the bar, and passed out.

♞

  



	5. Good Sense

♞

"Ada," It was Leon, following her down the street. She was walking fast. "Ada! Stop a minute, will you?"

"Go home, Leon," She said. 

She promised herself she wouldn't cry in front of people anymore. Ever again. What was the big deal? It wasn't like it hadn't ever been insinuated that she was a slut before. It couldn't have been because Leon was there. Nope. She wouldn't even consider it. 

Leon caught up to her. 

"He called the cops. You should go back," Leon said. She felt his fingertips ghost along her elbow, but he wasn't as uncouth as to try and grab her after she'd been grabbed by Chris Redfield. 

"Why?" She said, her tone sharper than she meant it to be. "Let him press charges. Fucking asshole." 

She expected that Kennedy was going to say something judgmental, but he didn't. She could feel the warmth of his fingertips on her arm, pulsing through her shirt. She'd left her jacket in the bar. 

With much less force, she pulled her arm away from his touch. It felt overwhelming, that small little touch. She couldn't stand it. 

His warm hand took hers. He pulled the fingertips out. She sucked a bit of air in with the sudden sting. She realized she'd busted her knuckles on Chris Redfield's face. 

"I'm guessing by the direction you're headed you aren't going home," He said. His face was so open. Angelic. 

"Good guess, detective," She said, her voice a bit more rattled than she wished it was. 

"Let me walk you home," He pleaded. "It's late, it's dangerous down here. I'll give you one of my beers."

"Oh wow, what a treat." 

"Ada, come on," She pulled her hand away from his, balling it up into a fist. 

"It's Detective," She tried. She tried to get her walls up.

Leon was determined. 

"Come on, Detective," He tried again, walking a few steps away. 

She sniffed, feeling less like crying. The adrenaline of the moment was draining out of her. Now she was left feeling shaky and uneven. Like she'd been taken down a few pegs. She shouldn't have punched Redfield. It was going to haunt her. 

She didn't want to think about it, because he had most definitely deserved it. 

Ada scuffed her shoe on the sidewalk and followed Kennedy.

♞

Ada was soaked from the drizzle. Her shirt was sticking to her, revealing the lacy demi-cup ridge of her bra over her breasts. Leon looked once, and politely looked away. He handed her a beer, and she swallowed half of it in one go.

Leon gave an abrupt chuckle of surprise. It wasn't whiskey, but it helped to sort of blur the sharp edges a bit. She swallowed the rest of it before he was able to hand her a towel. She expected him to be sort of 'aw shucks' shy, but he didn't balk at being able to see her bra. 

Maybe he wasn't a virgin. 

She thought about it, realizing that it would be hard to get out of the corn field without rolling in the hay with at least one girl. Maybe he was the neighborhood Lothario. 

No, that didn't seem to fit him either. 

She ran the towel over her hair and dried her arms off. Her shirt hung off of her limply, and she tried to squeeze excess water out. 

"Have a seat," He motioned towards the couch. Like the candies, he set another beer in front of her. 

She watched him as he walked into the bathroom. She tilted her head a bit to examine him as he moved around, still wearing his lipstick stained shirt. He pulled out what looked like a first aid kit and a few other items, moving out to the living room and leaning down in front of her. 

"How did you end up at Biohazard?" She asked, eyeing the space where his clavicle bones met. She wanted to press her fingertip against the skin. 

"I got invited out. Figured it was good to try and...build rapport."

"Redfield invited you?" 

"No, Marvin. Redfield invited himself," He held his hand out. "Let me see your hand, please," It was a command with a please tacked onto it. 

"I like it when you're commanding," Oh god, she might have been more drunk than she thought. 

He gave her a face. Then he took her hand. 

It stung. The blood had started to clot and he had to work a bit to clean it away. Once it was cleaned away, the wound was less concerning than it had once looked. Ada knew it, it wasn't the first time she'd punched a man in the face. Leon focused on what he was doing. 

"You've done this before," She offered up, trying to get him to reveal a bit more about himself. 

Why was she, Ada Wong, curious about this farm boy? 

It wasn't a question she could answer, so she avoided it...like she avoided most feelings. 

"Thought I wanted to be an EMT for awhile. I used to help out the rural ambulance when they needed it." 

"Huh," She said, sucking in a bit of air through her teeth at a particular sting.

"Sorry," He muttered. "Should've cleaned it when it started bleeding."

"They just let anyone walk in and help with the ambulance?"

"Not exactly." 

She was beginning to think he was more clammed up than she was. 

He put something on the wounds and bandaged them as best he could. They were knuckles, after all. He got up, rifling around in his freezer before handing her the ice pack. She pressed it to her knuckles. They would be sore tomorrow. It was likely not to be the only problem she had tomorrow. 

"Thanks," She said, watching him open a beer of his own.  
"So, you and Redfield, huh?" 

She groaned. 

"Yep," It wouldn't do her any good to deny it.

"Gotta say, wasn't expecting it. He seems too dumb for you." 

"Don't flatter me, Kennedy," She took a few gulps of beer. 

"No flattery," He said. "Do you want a dry shirt?" 

_Why, are my tits bothering you?_

She wondered what he would do if she stripped down in front of him. 

"Sure," She said. 

_This is why you should stop drinking, Ada._

She was right across the hallway. She could have just gone and changed, but she felt like trying to get a reaction out of Leon Kennedy. 

She watched as he retrieved a clean shirt. One of his own. She stood up, following him into his bedroom. When he turned around, she was right behind him. She heard the uptick in his breath. Surprise. Ada noticed one framed photo near his bed, but she didn't get a chance to examine it. 

"Uh, here," He said. Was that a tremor in his voice? 

"Thanks." 

"There are more dry towels in the bathroom." 

Ada turned around, lifting her shirt up and over her head, right in front of him. She could feel his eyes on her. So, not gay, then? 

She unclasped her belt, slipping out of her damp jeans. She had to admit, she was glad to be out of them. She turned around, taking the folded up shirt out of his hands. She was close. She felt his hot breath, could hear it, even. His eyes ran over her. Ada knew she was attractive, but it felt good to have some small confirmation that Kennedy thought so too. 

They stood there like that for a few moments. A few long moments. 

It was Leon who broke the silence. 

"It's late," His voice was breathy. 

It wasn't what she was expecting. 

"Right," She said, pulling the shirt over her head. "I'll get this back to you," She bent down and  
retrieved her wet clothes. 

"It's alright, you can keep it." 

Was that regret, there? 

Well, she had to give him more credit than Redfield. He was smart enough not to take the bait.

♞

"Wong," Burton said. "What in the hell were you thinking?"

"He's an asshole, Barry. He called me a slut." 

"Did he use the word slut, or did he imply it?" 

"He implied it, and then when he came to he used it." 

"Alright, I've always known that Redfield was going to get hit in the face, and lord knows I get happy when I see his stupid, broken nose, but did it have to be you? He wants to press charges." 

"I know," She said, wrapping her arms around herself. 

"I know you two slept together but I hoped you had both moved on." 

"What?" Ada asked, surprised. 

"Yeah, Ada, this place is like swiss cheese, everything comes through the holes." 

"Great,"

"I don't care. It's your decision if you want to shit where you eat, but I really hoped you had both moved past it." 

"I did, he didn't. He kept pressing the issue."

"He wants you to apologize," Barry said. "And he'll drop the charges. And I can write both of you up, and we can all become one happy family and skip through the flowers together." 

"What? I'm not apologizing to him." 

"Wong, just once, you're going to suck up your pride and apologize to him. And next time he calls you a slut, walk away from him." 

"Barry--"

"Get out," He waved his hand, dismissing her. 

Everyone had heard by that point. There were some snickers behind hands. 

Great. She was a slut, and for the first time in awhile, she'd been rejected by a newbie with great hair. 

Ada had had better days. 

She ended up apologizing to Redfield, which was only made bearable by how stupid he looked with his nose bandaged up. 

She wondered if it would permanently mar his pretty face. 

She hoped it would. 

She avoided Kennedy as much as she could, but Barry was on a warpath. 

"Are you working on the convenience store?" 

"Yep," She said. "Headed over there right now." 

"Good, take Kennedy with you. I'm loathe to say it, but I think he has more sense than you do." 

Ouch.

♞

  



	6. Test Subject

♞

Usually, Barry would have the cops do the footwork, but she knew he was pissed at her. Billy had directed them to an old apartment building a few blocks down from the store. Ada realized there was a chance that his attacker had skipped town, but she doubted it. He hadn't taken any money, and these people could barely afford to pay rent, much less skip town.

Leon tried to talk to her, but she was abrupt and professional. She tried not to be mean, but she felt like a fucking fool. She had undressed and nearly thrown herself at him, and he had said that it was late and sent her home. 

She couldn't have been angry at him for him being a gentleman, but that didn't stop her from feeling like a total idiot. 

"Ada," He said, as they walked up the front of the apartment complex building. 

"It's Detective Wong," She said, more seriously than she ever had. 

"I'm sorry about last night." 

"Why?" She asked, acting clueless about it. 

"Ada-" 

"Let's start on the first floor and work our way up." 

"Fine," Leon said. 

They started knocking on doors and asking about a kid with an umbrella tattoo. Sometimes, they got doors slammed in their faces. Sometimes, they got stories that had nothing to do with what they were asking, and they had to fight to extricate themselves from conversations with lonely people who had nothing better to do than to talk, and talk, and talk. 

And then, they got a lucky break. A woman who was feeling helpful told them that he lived up on the tenth floor, with his mom. 10B, she said. Leon and Ada took the stairs up to the tenth floor, a tense air of _something_ between them. 

Ada was sort of thankful she'd been turned down. She couldn't imagine how awkward it would have been if she had fucked him. 

She was glad when something else came up to distract her. 

She and Leon found 10B. 

The suspect opened the door. He balked like a scared gazelle, and before long he was running. He quickly shoved past Ada, nearly knocking her off of her feet. Leon was quicker on his feet, pulling out his gun and shouting at the kid that he should stop where he was. Before long, both of them were in pursuit of a kid who ran more quickly than any kid should be allowed to. 

Leon had longer legs, so he was able to cover more ground than Ada was. They split up, thinking that they might have more of a chance of stopping him if they trapped him in one of the alleyways that he was using to try and get away from them. Ada had to give it to him, he knew the area well. 

It was Leon who caught him, getting a hold of his pants when he tried to hop over a fence that was too high for him. Leon was close on his tail, and he reached out and grabbed whatever part of the kid he could get a hold of. He used the full brunt of his strength and yanked the kid off of the flimsy fence, yanking him down onto the ground. 

He pushed his face down into the dirt, yanking his hands behind his back and cuffing them. The kid was stuck. He was complaining. 

"I didn't do anything," He kept saying, over and over.  
"People who didn't do anything don't have a reason to run," Leon said, barely out of breath, his knee still pressed into the kid's back. 

Ada did better than she would have, had she still been smoking, but she was still more out of breath than Leon was. Maybe she should join him for gym days. 

"What's your name, kid?" Ada asked.  
"Who the fuck wants to know?" He asked. Leon put his full weight down, causing him to grunt.  
"It's Barney," He groaned. "Please get off of me."  
"Barney," Ada said. "Hmph,"

♞

Barney was strangely resilient. They had been in the room together for longer than Ada liked, and the kid was being completely unhelpful.

"Listen, kid," She leaned forward. "We have two witnesses that at the very least, saw your tattoo. I have you on the security camera. I'm sure it'll look great in front of a jury if you decide to go that route. Right now, you have an opportunity to confess and take a lighter sentence. Coen claimed you had motive, too." 

"Coen's an asshole," He replied, crossing his reedy arms over his chest. He was a ginger, and he had obvious freckles, not freckles that were caused by the sun. 

"That's nice," Ada said. "Help me out, and I'll help you out." 

She had tried it all. Bad cop, good cop. 

"How can you help me out?" He asked. 

"Tell me about the tattoo," She said, motioning to his arm. 

She could see she had struck a nerve. He quickly hid his arm underneath the other one. His face went blank, shuttered. 

She realized she had done a stupid thing in asking him about it. 

"It's just a tattoo," He said, quietly. 

"Barney," She said. "Really?" She asked. 

"I want a lawyer," He finally said. 

"Fine." 

There was nothing else she could do after that. 

Ada gathered up her things and left the room. 

She made her way out to the desk, allowing the cops to deal with taking him to a cell for the night. They would hold him for 48 hours because he'd run from them, and then it would go from there. 

"How'd it go?" Leon asked, leaning up against her desk as she took a seat. 

"Not well," She rubbed her eyes. 

"She wouldn't tell you, Kennedy," She heard Redfield's voice. "But she's actually not a very good detective." 

"Nice bandage, Redfield," Ada said. "How'd your mother take the news that you got punched by a girl?" 

It shut him up, at least for the time being. 

Being humiliated probably did wonders for his desire for her, IE, she hoped it had completely drained him of it. 

"I pulled the arrest records from downtown from the last few years. There are a few recurring names we might be able to run down," He said. He handed her the file he'd compiled. "I wasn't able to come up with anything from missing persons." 

"I forgot to call Birkin," She said, pushing her short hair out of her face. 

"You have a day off tomorrow, right?" Leon asked. 

"Yeah, how'd you know?" 

"Looked at the schedule," Leon said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. 

"Right," Ada said. "I'm sure you have paperwork." 

Leon's face was hard to read, but he lifted his perfect ass off of her desk and walked it, perfectly, back over to his own desk.

♞

Ada looked over what Kennedy had gathered from his research. She looked over the arrest reports, noting the details. Claims of attempted strangulation. Unfortunately, though, most of the reports stated that some form of sexual assault was involved. Thus far, their killer had failed to sexually assault his victims.

Ada was beginning to think that the nudity was a way of stripping them of their identities. Maybe even of their humanity. Almost as if they didn't matter at all. She thought about the passionless nature of it. The only thing that even suggested passion was the strangulation. What did it mean? 

When she looked up again, the office was empty. Even Barry had gone home, and she hadn't even noticed him leave. 

She began going back through the files. 

One of the girls had been identified. Cinnamon was her real name, and Ada had traveled all the way out into the outskirts to ask her family about her. She had disappeared when she was fourteen. She had run away before, so the family didn't seem to think that it was serious until the holidays passed by and she hadn't even reached out. 

Ada figured she had been working the streets since then. Maybe she had followed a boyfriend there. The girls hadn't told her much about Cinnamon. She was nice. She didn't deserve it. 

She had disappeared one night for the second time, and no one had thought to ask after her until the cops had found her. 

Ada was desperate, reviewing and reviewing. Maybe a detail she had missed would jump out at her. 

"Hey," The voice scared her. She jumped, gasping and looking up at it's source. 

"Jesus Kennedy," She said, breathlessly. "You've got to stop doing that."

"I'm sorry. I said your name a couple of times." 

"What are you doing here?" She asked. She looked at what he was holding. It was a greasy bag paper bag.

"I just finished walking my beat," He said. "I thought you might still be here. And you might be hungry." 

"Don't you like sleep, Kennedy?" She was trying not to be touched by the gesture. "I don't eat that shit." 

"Don't you?" He asked, setting the bag down in front of her. Burritos, by the smell of it. "Bring those in the conference room. We can look at them together. Maybe a fresh pair of eyes will help." 

"Hm," Ada said, thoughtfully. Her stomach growled, betraying her. 

"Hungry?" He asked, lifting up the bag and motioning towards the conference room. She always found herself in the position of being able to watch him walk away. 

Well, if he wasn't interested, there was no harm in looking, was there? 

She got up and gathered the files, following him.

♞

They ate, heartily. Ada was hungrier than she realized, and he'd picked her favorite Mexican place as an off chance. She poured too much of the watery 'red sauce' on her burrito, watching as he did the same - taking huge bites out of it without much thought as he flipped through the files.

Ada liked having things printed out, even though everything was available on computers now a days. 

She looked along with him, trying to focus her thoughts back on the case. Back on the two unidentified women. 

"It would make sense that we're having a hard time IDing them. My guess is the tattoos are put on them after death, or shortly before. But why would he be marking them?" 

"Who knows. Maybe it's a form of gathering trophies. Maybe he's messing with us." 

"What about the strangulation?" 

"I don't think there's any passion to it. It's almost like he's trying something." 

"What makes you think that?" 

"I don't know. It's all so cold. The puncture wound. The zip ties. The brand. There's no blood. No clothes, no identifying marks. It's almost like--" 

"They're subjects." 

"Yes," Ada said. "Exactly." 

Hamsters. Gerbils. Mice. Whatever unfortunate animal happened to be the trend for medical testing. 

Ada thought back to where they'd found the bodies. Medical conventions. Science exhibits. 

Could someone be that intentional? 

Or was it just a convenience for someone who was already working in those fields? 

"Ada," He started. She looked up. She had no idea he was about to pick up the thread of conversation about what had happened the night before. "About last night--" 

"Kennedy," She held up her hand, trying to stop him. "It's nothing," She said. "I had too much whiskey. I was coming down off of an adrenaline high. It was stupid," She admitted. 

"It isn't that--" 

"It's okay, really. You've seen how that went with Redfield. I don't blame you for how you reacted," 

"Ada, come on," He said. 

"Enough, please." 

"I didn't want to take advantage," He said. There was that damn earnestness. That damn honestly. He blurted it out, maybe realizing he might not get another chance to. 

She wasn't sure how to feel. She guessed she was relieved that she wasn't totally repulsive to him. 

"Thanks for the food," She said, standing up. "I've got to get home. Feed the cat."

"You have a cat?" He asked, nearly incredulous. 

"Yep, The Colonel." 

"I'll come with you." 

It was hard avoiding Kennedy when he lived right across the hall.

♞

  



	7. All Eyes on Ada

♚

Leon and Ada stopped at the convenience store on the way to the apartment. Ada could see it becoming a habit, and it made her uncomfortable.

Throwing herself at the man for sex was alright in Ada's book, but anything that remotely resembled intimate domesticity she couldn't stand the thought of. She watched him ponder over whether or not he wanted to buy a box of cookies and thought that maybe, with him, it might not be so bad. 

_What in the hell are you on about, Wong? You barely know the man. The kid._

Ada didn't buy whiskey. She was tired, and all she wanted was to crawl into bed and sleep for a full six hours. She bent down and grabbed cat food, gathering it up into her arms like a toddler and headed towards the counter. She set it down. It was a new girl with a piercing in her nose, and she didn't seem too excited to be there. She scanned the cat food and read the price off of the register. 

Ada swiped her credit card. 

The girl didn't offer her a bag and shoved her receipt at her. 

Oh well, everyone had their burdens to bear. Apparently for this girl, it was a dislike of her new job. 

Ada went towards the door. She paused, considering just leaving Kennedy there before she stopped in front of the door and waited, like a softie. 

She saw him bound up to the counter, his hair bouncing around his face. He pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and handed the woman cash. She seemed more interested in being nice to him. 

Ada scoffed, louder than she meant to. 

Both of them looked at her. 

She offered a smile, trying to smooth over the awkward moment. 

The girl looked back to Leon, putting all of his junk food into a bag along with his receipt and handing it to him. She even gave him a: hope to see you again soon! Ada tried, very hard, not to roll her eyes. 

When they were out on the street again, Leon gave her a sideways look. 

"What was that all about?" 

"I for one think that I am far cuter than you are," She smiled at him. 

"I would be inclined to agree, but...what?" Leon asked. 

"She was flirting with you, idiot." 

Leon appeared to be thinking back. Even after he had, it didn't appear to dawn on him that that's what she had been doing. 

"Nah, she was just being nice." 

"Oh god, Kennedy," Ada did roll her eyes this time. "Haven't you looked in the mirror lately?" 

Ada quickened her step, outpacing him in his stunned state. Leon had to run to catch up with her. Even though he had bags himself, he held the door open for her. She hated how nice he was. She hated the fact that he was probably going to be punished for it. 

"Goodnight--" She was forced to stop when she realized that someone had kicked her door in and broken the lock. "Shit," she muttered, standing agape in the hallway. 

Leon quickly dropped his bags in front of his apartment door. Ada pulled her gun out, gently pushing the door open and trying to get a view of what might be inside. She pulled her flash light out, turning it on and swinging around, getting a visual on if anyone was still in the apartment. Leon followed suit, checking the bathroom and the kitchen. 

Ada was surprised to find that the apartment wasn't ransacked. She wondered at it. Why break in if nothing was going to get stolen? When they were both satisfied that no one was left in the apartment, they finally turned the lights on. That was when Ada saw it, the photo that was set, plainly, at the end of her bed. 

She leaned down, trying to get a better look at it. Leon moved in to grasp it, but she pressed her hand against his chest and kept him back. It might have fingerprints on it. 

Ada realized it was a photo of her. A recent photo of her, in fact. It had been taken at the apartment complex where they'd apprehended Barney. 

Ada tried not to admit it to herself, but the implication of it was pretty fucking terrifying. Was she being watched? 

By who? 

And why?

♚

Leon called Burton, even though Ada had begged him not to. He had moral compass that pointed due North, so not even she could talk him out of it. Burton called CSI, and they processed her apartment like it was a crime scene. Ada supposed she wasn't going to get much sleep, now. She was glad that she didn't have to work the next day.

They didn't find much. The only thing that was left was the photograph, and when it was dusted for fingerprints, there was nada.

Ada had a sinking feeling that this had something to do with the dead prostitutes. 

"You can't sleep here," Barry said, flipping his little leather booklet around as he motioned to the door. "At least not until they fix your lock. I would put a keypad on it." 

"A keypad? To protect all of my precious belongings?" Ada couldn't help it. Anytime someone showed concern for her she met it with full sarcasm. 

Barry sighed. 

"Kennedy," He looked to Leon. "Can you stay with her tonight?" 

"I live right across--" 

Ada held up her hand, trying to stop him from telling Barry that he lived in this apartment complex. 

"--the hall," Leon finished, regardless. "She can stay with me." 

"Fancy that, Wong," Burton said. "I feel good about that. Get your shit and get out of here." 

"I'm not a defenseless damsel," She pointed out. "I can take care of myself." 

"Ada," Leon said, sharply. Both she and Burton turned to look at him. "Let me help you." 

"Well, I'll be damned," Burton said. "Sounds like the kid cares about you," 'Ada', he mouthed in her direction, obviously surprised about Leon using her first name so easily. 

"Lucky him," Ada whispered under her breath. No one heard her, thankfully. 

Ada knew when she was outbid, so she didn't argue any further. Besides, she would be on edge. If she was being watched, whoever it was would know she was right across the hall, but maybe the presence of another officer with another gun would make them think twice. 

She packed a bag. She chased the Colonel, a large black cat, out from underneath the bed and put him in his cat box. Then, like one big happy dysfunctional family, they made their way across the hallway to Leon's apartment. 

It looked more lived in. It was clear he had unpacked a bit. There was a TV, a coffee table, a comfortable looking couch. She felt awkward. The Colonel was not happy to be in his box, and let out a plaintive yowl to indicate it. 

"You can let him out," Leon said, turning the deadbolt and the second lock. 

"Did you put a dead bolt in?" She asked, looking at the door. 

"Yep," He said. "Good idea, apparently. Do you want a beer?" 

"No thanks," She said, setting her bag down by the couch. "You have awful taste in beer." 

He laughed, but she could tell that his normally sunny countenance had darkened. He was worried. 

She fed The Colonel. He found a spot underneath the table that suited him, though Ada could tell that he liked this arrangement as much as she did. She sat down on the edge of the couch, watching as he put away the junk food he'd bought and the new six pack of beer. She turned the TV on, though couldn't find anything that wasn't the news. She didn't want to watch the news, she lived it. 

Leon didn't grab a beer, she noted. 

"I'm going to take a shower," He said. "You can go after me, if you want to."

"Alright, thanks," She said. 

"I'll take the couch, you can sleep in my bed." 

"Oh, no--" 

"Do me a favor and don't argue. I'll feel better if I'm closer to the door." 

Damn, what was it? The perfect night not to listen to her? 

She wanted to make a snarky comment about sharing the bed, but she bit her tongue. She had already made enough of an ass of herself when it came to Leon Kennedy. 

He left his bedroom door open enough so that she could see him undressing. She had to force herself to look away. He was beginning to make her feel like a peeping Tom. The cat let out another yowl. 

"I know, Colonel," She replied, sighing. 

She got up and took one of his beers. 

A very short time later, she fell asleep on the couch with her shoes on. She didn't know how long she slept before she felt a warm, firm hand shifting her a bit. 

"Detective," Young male voice. "Ada." 

Her eyes peeled open. Thankfully, she was not yet at the point where her first instinct was to grab her gun. 

"I put clean sheets on the bed," His voice was above a whisper. "Come on." 

"Mm," She exhaled, sleepily. Her exhaustion overrode her concern about what had just happened. "I'm not sleeping," She tried, like a bleary toddler. 

Leon's hair was damp. He was wearing a white t-shirt and a pair of sweats. It was unusual to see him so dressed down. His feet were bare. 

"I know you're not sleeping," He tried. 

"Don't patronize me, Kennedy." 

He chuckled, softly. 

"I don't want to steal your bed." 

"It's not a big deal," He said. "I actually kind of prefer sleeping on the couch." 

"Oh?" She let him pull her up. "Why didn't you offer me the couch then?" 

"You never shut off, do you?" 

She felt his arm around her waist. He was strong and warm. He was keeping her upright, and Ada realized she was more exhausted than she realized. The few sips of beer she'd had probably hadn't helped the situation, either, though it was far less than what she could usually put away. 

With a 'whumpf' of air, she felt her butt being planted on the bed. She kicked her shoes off and fell face first into the pillow. It had the smell of 'Irish waterfall', the cheapest laundry soap you could buy. She realized he probably got it at the shop around the corner. Underneath, despite the sheets being cleaned, she could still catch a bit of his distinct smell. 

She fell asleep, almost immediately. 

A loud noise woke her up, some time later. She shot up out of the bed with a start, her heart pounding in her chest to such a degree she was sure others could hear it. She fumbled around in the dark for her gun, which Leon had kindly removed from her. He'd even put the safety on. She grabbed it and quietly got out of the bed. She held it up, slowly walking towards the bedroom door that stood ajar. The apartment was dark. 

She followed the source of the noise out into the kitchen. She heard rustling. She kept her gun aimed, and flicked the light on quickly. 

It was highly effective at scaring the shit out of The Colonel, who had knocked the trash can over in pursuit of an old piece of pizza. 

"Shit," She breathed out. 

Ada saw the shadows shift out of the corner of her eye. She quickly swung around, pointing her gun. 

Leon threw up his hands quickly in a sign of surrender. He had turned the apartment lights on, and was squinting into the light. 

"Don't shoot," He said. "It's just me." 

She lowered her gun. 

He had taken his shirt off, and, if it was possible, he was even more attractive with his hair ruffled from sleep and a squint on his face. 

She carefully set the gun down, trying to get control over her breathing.

♚

  



	8. F*ck All

♘

Leon stood there looking at her for a few minutes before he took in the scene. She watched as, very slowly, the connections formed. He scratched idly at a freckled bicep before he shuffled into the kitchen, retrieving the old piece of pizza and dumping it into the trash. He righted it, moving to clean the rest of the mess.

"I'll do that," Ada said. It had been her cat, after all. "Don't you have a shirt you could put on?" She hoped that her discomfort didn't bleed into her tone. 

Not that she minded looking at him, but it was oh-so-difficult not to. And she was trying oh-so-hard. 

"Oh," He said sleepily, glancing back to the couch. "Yeah, sorry," He replied. 

She slapped her forehead quietly, her face stretching into a grimace before she forced her emotions back down and began gathering the trash. She was happy to find that there wasn't anything too terribly concerning, no body parts or the like. 

Just food wrappers, cleaning products and a few receipts. Old bills. She tried not to pay too much attention, though she couldn't help but notice the unopened, crumpled letter that was at the bottom of the pile. Quickly, she picked it up and looked at the hand. 

Eastern Penitentiary. 

The last name was the same as his. 

She was forced to shove it into her pocket as Leon came back into the kitchen, now wearing a shirt and a pair of socks. It was kind of cold in his apartment. 

"On edge, huh?" He asked, looking much more awake. 

His breath smelled minty. Huh. 

"Hard not to be," She admitted. "I'm sorry to wake you up. I'm alright now, and I put the trash up high, hopefully that will keep Colonel out of it." 

"It's alright. I was having a bad dream," He moved to the fridge and pulled out the milk. She wasn't exactly surprised when he drank it right from the jug. "Don't you wear pajamas?" 

"No, not really," She replied, in earnest. 

He seemed to understand, pretty quickly. 

"I can loan you something." 

"No, it's alright. I have something I can put on." 

She moved towards the bedroom, where she'd deposited her bag. 

"Uh, Detective?" 

She turned to find Leon pointing at her gun. She retrieved it from the counter with a small, awkward bit of laughter.

♘

She didn't have time to look at the letter. She quickly put it in the side pocket of her bag. She realized it was an invasion of his privacy. She couldn't help it. She was a detective, after all.

 _You could just ask him, Wong._

Ada ignored her own inner voice, and began stripping out of her clothes. She had closed the door, less out of politeness and more because she'd wanted to stash the letter in secret. Ada pulled out a pair of old boxer shorts she'd stolen from an ex-ex boyfriend and the shirt that Leon had let her sleep in before. She put her gun in the drawer next to his bed with the safety on, just in case. 

The Colonel meowed from underneath Leon's bed. 

She leaned down, looking at him. He blinked out at her from the darkness. 

"Don't get angry with me, idiot," She said. "You were the one who was after a slice of pizza in an apartment full of jumpy cops. Do you know how close you came to death?" 

"Ada," She heard Leon through the door. "Everything alright in there?" 

Embarrassing. She was making a habit out of it. 

"Oh, yeah," She said abruptly, getting up and brushing her knees off. "Just reprimanding the Colonel." 

"Of course," Leon replied. "Well, goodnight." 

"Goodnight." 

Ada turned the light out. She laid down underneath the covers, but the bleary exhaustion that had overcome her before was nowhere to be found. She tossed, and turned, and was just about to reach for her bag to look at the letter when she heard another knock. 

"Yeah?" She asked. She hoped it was Leon, and not an intruder who had silently killed Leon and was now politely knocking on the door. 

"Um," He started out, unsure of himself. "My mom and I used to play cards when I couldn't sleep." 

Used to? 

He cleared his throat. 

"Do you want to play a game?" 

"Uhh..." Ada said. Good, Wong. "Sure."

♘

She found herself sitting across the kitchen table from Leon, who was shuffling cards. She didn't know what they were going to play. A dirty thought crossed her mind: maybe strip poker?

She cleared her throat and took a swig of the beer he had set down in front of her. He'd offered her his wealth of freezer pizza and chips and salsa. Ada had passed on the pizza but agreed to the chips. She distracted herself by crunching down on one of them. What was wrong with her? Was it Kennedy, or did she just need to get laid? 

"What do you play, usually?" She finally asked, setting the beer down. She noticed he hadn't touched his. 

"Gin, Rummy," He said. "Hearts? Poker? Five card stud?" 

He was good at shuffling. She got a brief image of him, when he was in high school, trying to learn card tricks to impress girls. Maybe he did magic tricks, too. 

"Let's stick to Gin Rummy," Ada said. 

That's right, Ada. Keep it geriatric. Less chance for either one or both of you to end up naked. 

"Ladies' choice," Leon tilted his head in agreement and began dealing. 

"Do you still play with your mom when you see her?" 

He seemed to be working out how to respond. His face was guarded. 

"No," He finally said, taking the first swig of his beer. 

Ada knew better than to poke a sore tooth, but she couldn't help but be curious. Maybe mom wasn't around anymore? 

"How did you end up in Raccoon City, Kennedy?" The city where most mothers would be loathe to let their precious babies go. She had to be gone. 

"I've wanted to be a cop since when I could talk," He said, finishing the deal. "I came to Raccoon City because of you." 

"Because of me?" Was it creepy, or sweet? Hopefully not creepy. 

"Yeah. You solved the murders in the Arklay mountains," He began rearranging his cards. "That was when I knew I had to come here. It's the place where I can do the most good." 

Aw. She didn't know what to say, and forced herself to swallow her sarcastic reply. Burton would have been proud. 

"What about you, Detective? Are your parents here?" 

"My parents are dead," She said abruptly. It came out without her thinking. 

Leon looked shocked. His mouth formed a little 'o' before he forced it shut. 

"It's alright Kennedy," She said. "It's been a long time gone now." 

Most people asked: How did it happen? How long has it been? Are you okay? 

She was surprised when Leon didn't. 

"My mother is dead, too," He admitted. 

She could tell it gave him no relief to say it. 

After a few moments of silence, Ada opened her mouth and said; 

"Well, this got dark fast," She laughed. Leon laughed too, relieved. "Let's play." 

They sat in silence for a long time, playing cards and drinking beer. Occasionally, one of them would reach for a chip and dunk it into the cheap grocery store salsa that was more like canned tomatoes than anything else. It didn't matter. People liked snacks in social situations because it gave them something to do with their hands. 

Leon won most of the games. Once, Ada won, but she was pretty sure he had let her. She needed to brush up on her Gin Rummy skills. 

"You let me win," She insisted, gathering up the cards. 

"Why would I do that? I'm a man of integrity," 

"You're a baby, and you're patronizing me," She said, a smile lifting her lips. 

"You're pretty when you smile." 

"Shut up and deal, Kennedy." 

They played until Ada could see the pastel, sherbet colors of dawn slipping in across the kitchen tiles. It was freezing, though Ada was sure she was shivering because her body was trying to get her to go to bed. For some reason, she didn't want to break the companionable silence, sometimes punctuated with stupid jokes and ribbing. 

It was nice. Ada wasn't used to it. 

Was this what it was to get to know a guy before he tried to jump directly into a girls' panties? 

It made her a bit sad, too. It had to mean that Leon wasn't interested in her that way. 

For a minute, Ada thought she could live with what she could get. 

Damn, did this kid even know how troubled he made her? 

Finally, he let out a yawn that came against his will. He quickly covered it with his hand, looking at her a bit sheepishly. 

"It's almost 5 am," She said, yawning herself. "I have to say, this doesn't help you sleep." 

"I never claimed that it did," He replied. "At least not right away," He gave her a smirk, looking at her over his cards with his blue, blue eyes. 

Oh boy, he was going to be a lady killer some day. 

"Let's go to bed." 

"There's plenty of room on the couch," He said. 

Ada thought to argue, but she pulled the blanket off of his bed and joined him on the couch. He was right, they could lay at either end without touching each other. He turned the TV on, and Ada was glad for the quiet drivel, and the blue glow. It helped distract her racing brain a bit, and finally, she was able to fall asleep.

♘

When she woke up again, it was noon. The light in the apartment had turned a deeper shade, making her realize that the sun was likely much higher in the sky than it had been when she fell asleep. She felt disoriented, she never slept this late. She realized that it was the racket of her cell phone that had woken her up, but she couldn't for the life of her figure out where it was or why it sounded so far away.

She felt like she'd been hit by a train. 

When she shifted to get up, she realized she wasn't alone. She felt the long, hard line of someone else's body pressed right up against hers. In fact, the back of her legs were hot from the contact of someone else's warm body. She sat up quickly, realizing that her and Kennedy had ended up in a tangle as they'd slept. 

_Shit._

She carefully extricated herself from him, having been asleep on his arm, his other one tossed heavily across her waist. She carefully lifted it, sliding it back against its owners body in an attempt not to wake him up. It looked, for a moment, that he would -- but she was relieved to find he only shifted around in his sleep. 

He was a heavy sleeper, she could see. 

Carefully and quickly she made her way across the apartment and fumbled for her phone. Looking at the ID, she was sorry to see that it was Barry. 

She answered it, ready to have her ear drum blown out. 

"Jesus, Wong, where the fuck have you been?" He shouted. 

"It's my day off," She said, trying to hide the fact that she'd been sleeping until noon. 

"That doesn't mean you get to leave your cell phone in fuck-all," He said. "I need you here, now!" 

"Fuck-all isn't a real place, Barry." 

It wasn't the right thing to say.

♘

  



	9. Four Shots

♖

Ada and Leon scrambled into the police station together. They had barely gotten dressed; Ada skating back across the hallway into her apartment to take a shower, brush her teeth, and get dressed. She had reservations about sliding into the station together looking at least a bit disheveled, but she realized that people were probably already talking anyway.

"Well well," Uh oh. "Look who decided to join us," It was Redfield, looking smug. 

"Shut up, Chris," It was his sister. "Hi Leon." 

"Hey, Claire," There was that smile that he just gave out to everyone, freely. 

Ada looked between the two of them, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. It bothered her. She didn't know why. She tried to brush it off. Claire was the girl next door kind of pretty. She looked good in her blues, and her hair was always pulled back into a perfect pony-tail. Dare she say, Kennedy's kind of pretty? 

"Detective," Claire finally said, with a nod of her head. Ada smiled and nodded back. There was no reason to be a bitch to her just because a boy liked her better than he liked Ada. 

But, it stuck in her craw. 

Burton came charging out of his office. 

"Wong, good," He handed her a file. "Alright you morons," Burton called out. "The reason I've called this lovely all hands on deck meeting is because Ashley Graham, the daughter of our very own prominent mayor, has been shot, four times." 

A pall fell over the room. Ada looked at the file in her hand. She guessed that her three, sad prostitutes would have to wait. 

"She's still breathing, so we need to get down to the hospital ASAP to see if we can speak with her about what she saw." 

He pointed to Ada. 

"You," He said. "You'll go to the hospital and see if you can speak with the victim and see what you can find out from the family." 

He began calling out assignments in just such a fashion. Chris was going to deal with the car. There were witnesses that needed to be spoken with. Until the case was solved, it was all hands on deck. 

It didn't help that Ashley was pregnant and the baby had been delivered early because of all of the damage to her organs. 

They weren't sure either of them were going to survive. 

When Ada looked at Leon, for just a moment, he looked stormier than he had ever looked. 

"I expect everyone to be working on this full time until it's solved," Barry said. "Now run along."

♖

Ada grabbed her belongings and headed out to the parking garage where she'd left her car. She stopped at the vending machines and got a soda, realizing that without caffeine, she'd have a major headache before long. She wasn't expecting to be followed, but she turned around to find Leon in step with her.

She couldn't recall Barry assigning anything to him, but Leon hadn't said much himself. 

"Don't you have an assignment?" Ada asked. 

Leon was distracted. 

"Kennedy," She placed her hand on his shoulder, stopping him. 

It woke him up a bit. 

"Are you alright?" 

"Yes. Yeah," He stammered. "I'm fine." 

"Shouldn't you be doing something?" With Claire Redfield? 

"Barry said I should come along with you. You might need help." 

"Of course he did," Ada said, unlocking the door to the sedan and sliding in. 

With a beep, she unlocked the passenger door, watching as Leon slid in. He bumped his head. He really was distracted. 

She realized she didn't have time to dig into it, but she handed him the cold can of soda she had just gotten out of the vending machine on her way out into the parking garage. He sat with it, in his hands, for a good five minutes. 

"Put it on the bump," She said, quietly. 

"What?" 

"Put the can on the bump? It's cold, it'll help with the soreness." 

"Oh, right." 

"Are you sure you're alright?" She asked again. 

"I'm fine, Detective." 

"Alright then," Ada said. 

She dug around in the folder Barry had given her. In it, she found a small drive. She plugged it into the car radio. She wasn't surprised when the 911 call came through the speakers. 

Ashley Graham's voice. She was lucid, really lucid for someone that had just been shot four times. She did a good job at describing where she was, and the 9-1-1 operator kept talking to her until the ambulance arrived. Trying to keep her awake, trying to keep her alive. 

It was painful to listen to. Ada could hear it in her voice, the fine edge of panic. Her life force draining out of her without her being able to do anything about it. The pain in her voice. Ada had heard these types of calls before, but she was glad that it wasn't a victim speaking from beyond the grave. At least, not yet. 

Ada stopped the recording at one point. She replayed it. 

_My husband was behind me, and then he pulled out in front of me. He never got out of the car._

Ada thought that was weird. 

She replayed it again, just to make sure she had heard it right. 

It was Leon who reached over and turned it off. She was irritated, and a bit surprised. 

"Never gonna get anywhere as a detective if you can't listen through a 911 call, Kennedy," Her voice sounded sharper than she meant it to be. 

She was trying to remember the first time she'd ever felt it. That shock that people get murdered, all of the time, and that yes - it was often done by the ones who were supposed to love them the most. 

Not that Ada was sure about the husband, but it was one hell of a weird thing to say. 

"I'm sorry," He said. 

"Listen, are you sure you're going to be alright? It's okay if you want to go back to the station, but I'm going to need you to pull it together if you're going to come with me." 

"No, I need to come with you," He said, firmly. "I need to get over this." 

Ada looked at him, curious about what he meant. 

The hookers hadn't bothered him. Why did this?

♖

The family was in the waiting room. Her mother was there, but Ada didn't see her father. Her mother didn't know much. Ashley had called her that evening to tell her that she was going to a movie with her husband Luis. There had been nothing odd about that conversation. The next thing she knew, she was being woken up with a call that her daughter was in the hospital.

"Is her husband here?"  
"Yes," She pointed. "Luis." 

Luis was sitting with his back in between the legs of another woman. Ada tilted her head just a bit before she put on her game face. 

"You're the husband?" She asked, as nicely as she could. For now, there was no reason to bully anyone. 

Leon was doing less of a good job at hiding his expression. If there had been a reason to arrest this guy, Leon would have found it, Ada was sure. 

"Who are you?" Leon asked, looking at the woman. She looked surprised, but didn't feel inclined to respond. 

"She's a friend, who are you?" 

"I'm Detective Ada Wong," She said. "I'm here in regards to your wife. I'm sorry to hear about her injuries." 

Luis may have been in shock. Ada had to remember there was no proper way to grieve...but even this was weird. He looked uninterested. 

"Is there anything you can tell me about tonight?" 

"We went to see a movie," Luis said. "I had to get back to the office, so we split up. I was back at the office by the time it happened." 

"But -- " Ada quickly reached out and grasped Leon's forearm. 

"Anything unusual when you parted? Did you notice anyone following her?" 

"No, nothing." 

"Anyone who would want to hurt your wife?" 

"No, no one." 

Ada got the feeling he thought he had gotten away with something.

♖

Leon looked agitated.

Ada had to avoid it for now, considering that they were in the waiting room with her family. They waited, and waited, but the girl would be in surgery for the rest of the night. They were trying to stabilize her. 

Ada tried to ask the doctors, but there were no hard and fast answers. They told her that they would call her as soon as she could talk to the victim. Ada left her card behind with everyone, glad to get out of the hospital and the tense atmosphere that pervaded the waiting room. 

"Why didn't you call him on it?" Leon asked once they were out in the parking lot. 

"I wanted to see what he would tell me," Ada said. She dug around in her pocket for a candy but came up short. 

Man, she really wanted a cigarette. 

"But you knew he was lying." 

"We don't know that for sure. He doesn't know what we know. It's a good place to be. We've already caught him in a lie. We've got to find out why he's lying," 

She spun on her heel, turning to look at him. 

"Kennedy, you have to learn how to keep your blinders off," She said. 

"What does that mean," He asked, grumpy. 

"If you focus in too intently on a suspect, you miss things, and it makes for shoddy police work." 

He didn't say anything. 

"Let's get back to the station and see if Redfield found anything interesting."

♖

Leon was quiet in the car. He was quiet in the station. He went back to his desk without saying much, seeming happy that someone had given him something to do. He was answering tip calls on the dinosaur station phones that should have been replaced ages ago.

Ada was sure he would hear some interesting things. 

Redfield hadn't found anything in her car except for bullet holes and a lot of blood. 

"Wong, see me," Burton came out of his office the minute he saw Ada. 

She followed him into his office, reaching for her candies again and coming up short again. 

"Damn," She muttered, hearing Barry's door rattle shut behind her. 

"Did you talk to her?" 

"She's in surgery all night. They're trying to stabilize her. I called to have an officer stationed just in case. They said they'd call." 

"Why didn't you leave Kennedy?" 

"Uh," Ada said, unsure of how to answer. "Well, maybe that wasn't the best decision." 

"Hmph," Barry said. "What'd you make of the 911 call?" 

"Weird what she said about her husbands car." 

"Did he say anything?" 

"Nope, claimed he had gone back to the office." 

"Huh," Barry replied. She could tell he was chewing on it. 

"Check her cell phone and see if you can recover her route with the GPS," He said. "Follow the route, see if there are any CCTVs out there that might have caught the other vehicle," 

"Yes sir." 

"See if you can convince him to consent to letting us search the car." 

"You mean the husband?" 

"No, I mean the pope. Carry on, Wong." 

Ada knew when she had been dismissed. 

She went back out into the thick of it. She saw Claire over by Leon's desk, and he was smiling. She bit at her bottom lip, forcing herself to turn away from the scene and focus on her work. It was what she always did when her personal life was shit. She focused way too much on work. 

She did what Barry said, working through the cell phone info. She had to work with one of the specialists to recover the map, but once they had marked the route, Ada was able to see everything that was in the area. It was going to require some foot work, and though half of the city was open 24 hours, Graham had been found in a nicer area where shops still had 'closing times'. 

It would have to wait until the next day, they had spent too much time at the hospital. 

"Hey, Detective." 

She looked up to find Claire standing in front of her desk. 

"We're going to get something to eat. Do you want to come?" 

Ada looked to see that 'we' was her and Leon. 

"Uh, no thanks," She said. "I'm going to finish up here and head home to catch a few hours of sleep, if I can." 

Ada remembered she hadn't called the super about the lock, which meant her 'few hours' of sleep would probably be taken in the employee lounge. 

Ah, the smell of burnt coffee. 

Claire looked a bit disappointed. 

"Alright, have a good night." 

Yeah, it was a great night.

♖


	10. Balls

  


♔

Ada didn't end up sleeping in the break room. She tried, but it was noisy even there, and she had this fear that she would wake up with dicks drawn on her face. The culprit for that would probably be easy to point out, but she wasn't thrilled at the prospect of it. The station did quiet down just a bit, the phones stopping their incessant ringing as people were headed to bed.

Only the true weirdos called after midnight, and Ada happened to know when the news spots ran. She was sure it was all over Raccoon City, now. 

She made herself some coffee and dug in for the night. She had research to do, before she began with the heavy questioning. 

She sought out the articles on the power couple, trying to sift through the new ones regarding the incident into older ones that might betray something about the state of their marriage. Unfortunately, the only thing you could count on the news for was to make you feel bad about your own life. 

_Don't you want this? Look at this beautiful, powerful couple that never has any problems, ever!_

She figured old Mayor Graham might have had something to do with the forced positivity. 

Ashley was the one with the money, that was for sure. Luis had been an ivy league trained lawyer with no real money to speak of when Ashley had plucked him off of the streets. 

Ada wondered how daddy had felt about it. 

Ada began with her detective work. Looking through financials, trying to see if anything weird jumped out at her. 

It was surprising how often people were so obvious about murder, and the fact that they had committed it. 

"Come on Luis," She said. "No expensive trips? No champagne?" She was just mumbling to herself. 

"You've started talking to yourself?" She looked up to find Redfield standing there. 

"What do you want?" She asked, wishing he would just leave her alone. 

"Where's your partner?" 

"Off with your sister." 

"And yet she is so serene," Chris said. 

"Why wouldn't I be?" 

"Oh, I don't know. You two looked pretty cozy when you came in this afternoon." 

"Chris, I've got shit to do," She warned, her tone dropping a bit. 

"Alright, alright," He said, throwing up his hands and sitting back down at his desk. "For my part I think he's too vanilla for you." 

Ada looked at the clock. Just past midnight. 

Kennedy didn't come back that night. She wondered if Claire had talked him into going home and getting some sleep. He had probably told her all about why this case was bothering him so much. 

There wasn't much action until the morning. Ada was going to have to wait for phone records, and they were all going to have to wait for any possible evidence. 

That day, she was going to have to have a team of walk the area of the route Ashley had taken to see if anything was on the security cameras. 

She fell asleep at her desk. 

She woke up to a heavy knocking on the desk, causing her to start awake. She looked up, blearily. Ugh, she wished she hadn't fallen asleep. 

"Wong," It was Chris. "Ashley Graham just died. You better get down to the hospital and see what you can find out." 

"Damn it," Ada said, rubbing her eyes. "Damn, damn, damn." 

Now, they were investigating a murder.

♔

Ada managed to get out of the station before Burton started shouting orders at her. She got to the hospital quickly, taking time to speak to everyone all over again. Had anyone been able to speak with her?

The doctors told Ada that she had been able to write a few notes, and when they asked her who had hurt her, she could only draw a question mark. 

Remarkably enough, the baby had survived. 

There were small miracles, sometimes. 

And then, she set in with the family members. 

Ashley's mother was still at the hospital, waiting on a small peanut of a baby that they didn't have high hopes would survive. Ada knew it was a tough time, but she couldn't always wait a proper amount of time to start questioning people. 

Ada sat down next to her. 

"I'm sorry for your loss," She said. 

She didn't say anything in reply. Ada could see she was still processing through it herself. Maybe it hadn't quite dawned on her. 

"I know this isn't a good time, but I was hoping I could ask you some more questions." 

She nodded. 

"I want to help," She sniffed. "But I don't know how much help I'll be." 

"Can you walk me through last night again?" 

She did, with as much detail as she could muster. Ada wrote down a couple of details, but it didn't vary much from the original story that she had been told. 

"Was there anyone that you know of that might want to hurt Ashley?" 

She scoffed. Ada handed her a tissue. 

"You might want to talk to Luis." 

Ada looked at her. She could tell that Mrs. Graham did not like her son-in-law. 

"Well, thank you for your time." Ada said. 

Her phone started ringing. 

"Excuse me." 

Ada didn't recognize the number. She answered the phone. 

"Wong." 

"Where are you?" She recognized the voice immediately. It was Kennedy. 

"Who's asking?" She asked, shutting her little notebook and sliding it into the pocket of her tan trench coat. 

"Leon Kennedy, ma'am," She could hear a bit of facetiousness in his tone. "Reporting for duty." 

"I'm at the hospital," She switched her phone to her other ear, digging around in her pockets for her car keys. "Where are you?" 

_Not with Claire, I guess?_

"I'm out with the others, walking the route she drove to see if we can find any CCTV." 

"Well?" 

"Nothing so far. There seems to be a spate of non-working cameras striking the city," She could hear his smile. 

"Keep going," Ada said. "I'm headed over to speak with the husband again." 

"Oh, I'll meet you," There was that eagerness. Whatever had been bothering him the day before seemed to have dissipated. 

She tried not to think about what he might have been doing with Claire. 

_None of your business, Wong._

_Too vanilla for you._

"It's fine, Kennedy. What you're doing is important," She pointed out. "Call me if you come up with anything." 

"Ada--" 

She hung up the phone. 

She had decided that she hated the way he said her name.

♔

Ada knocked on the door of the huge, sprawling manse where Luis and Ashley lived. It was a remake of some of the actual, older houses in the area, made from plaster and shaped by the hands of someone who had an eye for houses of exactly this type.

It wasn't the real thing, though. 

The real thing might have been too real for a couple like this. 

Ada waited, for about five minutes. She knocked every so often, and was beginning to wonder if he was even home. 

Finally, the door opened. 

She was surprised to see Mayor Graham standing there, but she supposed she shouldn't have been. 

"Detective Wong." 

"Mayor." 

Ada had met him a few times in social settings. Generally those where she was forced to attend and show that, yes, she was a cop. They deserved funding. The department was really doing something! It was mostly galas, and the policeman's ball each year. 

"Is Luis home?" 

"He is, but he's very upset." 

"Oh, I won't be more than a few minutes, I swear." 

Ada was able to slip underneath his arm. She could tell that he was uncomfortable. He didn't want this. 

But...he relented. 

"He's through there." 

"Thanks, Mayor." 

Ada sashayed into the living area, highly aware that the Mayor was staring at her ass. 

It wasn't the first time, after all. 

"Who let you in?" Luis asked. He looked surly. 

"Your in-law," She said, digging her notebook out. "I'll just be a minute. I have some questions to ask you." 

He waved, idly. An agreement? Ada had to take it as such. 

"Can you walk me through what happened last night, again?" 

"I already told you," He replied. 

"I know, but it's important for me to hear your account of it again." 

"Fine." 

Luis went through it again. It seemed robotic, and rehearsed. She was trying not to jump to conclusions. 

"And there's no one you can think of that would want to hurt her?" 

Luis looked right through her. She realized that Ashley's father was standing in the doorway. 

"No," He replied. 

"Do you mind if we could search your vehicle? Just to clear you," Ada said, telling a bit of a white lie. 

"Fine," Luis said, though he immediately seemed to think that was the wrong answer. 

"Detective," She heard the Mayor say. "I think you'd better go." 

"Of course. Thanks for all of your help." 

Ada heard the door slam behind her. It almost did hit her on her way out. 

She dialed Burton. 

"Wong," He said. 

"Have we thought about her father?" Ada asked. 

"Jesus Wong, that's a tall accusation. What have you got to back it up?" 

"Nothing, yet." 

"Well, you'd better find something. He'll cut all of our balls off if we accuse him and don't have anything to back it up with." 

"Balls?" 

"Yes, Wong, even yours," He sighed. "You'd better start talking to the neighbors. Hopefully they don't clam up on you." 

"One can hope," She replied. "He agreed to let us search his car."

"Good," Barry said. "Call me when you're done with the neighbors." 

When Ada came around the lane to her car, she saw something she wasn't expecting. Kennedy was leaning up against it, his arms crossed over his chest. He was wearing his uniform, and, she noted, his hat. 

"What are you doing here, Kennedy?" She asked, tossing her notebook in the back seat. 

She brushed right by him. 

Man, was she a sucker for a man in uniform.

"Did you follow me?" 

"I wouldn't call it following when everyone knew you were here," He motioned to the house. "Everyone knows where this place is." 

"I thought I told you to stick to what you were doing." 

"You did, but I'm getting better at ignoring your instructions." 

Shit, he really was spending too much time with her. 

"Get in," She said, with an exasperated sigh. "Take off your hat." 

Leon smirked, and then did as he was told. 

Ada wished it was under different circumstances.

♔

The neighbors weren't much help, not until they found Ramon Salazar.

Ramon lived vertically across from them. There was some distance between him and the large, overbearing fake-Victorian, but Ada was determined to walk up and down that street and see if anyone had anything useful to say. 

Ada realized the fruitlessness of it, trying to get neighbors to snitch on one of the most powerful families in the city. 

It was so much easier to be complicit in crime than to 'fess up to having noticed that not all was well in paradise. 

"I wondered when you would be by." 

It was the first thing Ramon said when he opened the door. He was a very small man. Ada thought for a moment that she was looking at a child until she saw that he was, in fact, an adult. 

"Oh!" He exclaimed. "Look at the pair of you. If my tax dollars are going towards funding such an attractive police force....I'll rest well at night." 

Leon and Ada lingered at the doorway, unsure that if they went in that they would come out again. 

"Come on in!" He called out. "I was just starting dinner." 

Ada was the first one to step in, carefully stepping over the threshold onto the shag carpeting. In fact, Ramon seemed to be stuck in an earlier era altogether. The walls were decked in a wallpaper that Ada could only describe as psychedelic. There were wicker chairs. Wicker furniture. Wicker everywhere. 

"Come through, police!" Ramon shouted, reminding him of their presence.

The kitchen was painted a horrid flamingo pink. 

"Nice kitchen," Leon said. 

She wanted to tell him not to be so nice. It might end up with him tied up in Ramon's basement. 

"Oh, thank you," Ramon said. "Isn't it lovely? I keep birds. They just love this color."

Ah, so that was what Ada had smelled. 

"I wondered when you would be by," Ramon said. "I heard about it last night on the news. And now, she's died. What a horrible thing." 

"Yes, we're all very shocked," Ada said. "I was hoping I could ask you a few questions." 

"Of course! Have a seat, both of you." 

Both she and Leon looked at the vinyl covered chairs. As always, Ada was the bravest, and sat down first. 

"Did you know them at all?" 

Ramon put water glasses with wedges of lime down in front of them without asking. Ada looked at the water, watching the floaters settle down to the bottom. Leon took a sip. Jesus, he was so polite. Ramon sat down with a large bowl full of salad. 

"Are either of you hungry? I have plenty." 

"No, thank you," Ada replied, wondering if Leon would accept just on the basis of being Leon. 

"No thanks," He mumbled. 

"Goodness gracious," Ramon said. "Where did you find him? A wheat field?" 

"Something like that," Ada smirked, looking at Leon who was not happy that they were having fun at his expense. 

"I'm sorry dear," He said. "What did you ask me?" 

"Did you know either Ashley or Luis?" 

"Oh yes," He said. "I knew her better than him, of course. I met him a few times, but she would come here occasionally to chat or I would cut her hair." 

"So you were friends?" 

"Sort of. I got the feeling that the friends she did have she felt weren't really friends," He admitted. "I think she came here when she needed a refuge from all of that. And of course, I ran my own salon for many years." 

"All of that?" Ada asked. 

"It couldn't have been easy." 

"What about her husband? Did she ever talk about him?" 

"Oh yes," He replied, pushing his fork around in the salad that was slowly wilting, ignored. "All of the time." 

"Did you get the impression it was a good marriage?" Leon asked. 

Ada turned to him, a bit surprised that he had jumped in. 

"No, darling," He was looking at Leon, then. "I got the feeling that Luis was very controlling. And on top of her father." 

"Her father?" Leon asked. 

"He controlled the purse strings, you know. He funded their whole life," He sighed. "She often spoke about how nothing was ever good enough, and how she felt stuck between a rock and a hard place." 

"How do you mean?" Ada asked. 

"Well, doll," He sighed. "I think Luis controlled her because he felt like a boy toy, and we all know boy toys should never turn into husbands. Except for maybe you, darling," He looked right at Leon. 

Ada was surprised he hadn't blushed, or balked. Even Redfield would have been running at any 'gay' implication. 

"He felt inadequate. Her father didn't like him." 

"Anything else that stands out to you?" Ada asked. 

"Now that you mention it," He said. "A few months back she came running over here, wet as a drowned rat," He took a drink of water. "She was sure someone was trying to kill her. I let her sleep in the guest room. In the morning, she was gone. I couldn't get her to talk about it again." 

"When was this, exactly?" 

"Oh...about Christmastime?" 

"Thank you, Mr. Salazar," Ada said, standing up. The chair honked across the floor, loudly. "Here's my card, if you think of anything else. You've been very helpful." 

"Oh doll, you're welcome. Come and see me any time you need a haircut," He looked at Leon. "You come and see me any time you like." 

Ada had a very hard time not snorting.

♔

Ada was laughing. She had started somewhere during the walk to the car and couldn't stop. Leon asked her politely to stop, but each time he did it just renewed a fit of giggles.

"I'm sorry," She said. "I'm pretty sure he would have eaten you." 

"Detective, this is unbecoming of you," He turned his gaze to the window, though he had a small ghost of a smile on his face. 

"Are you really that clueless?" 

"What do you mean?" He asked, his gaze now wide and surprised. 

"Nothing," She said. "You did a good job." 

"Are you thinking it's the husband?" 

"I still don't know," Ada admitted. "Maybe we'll know more when they search his car. For now, I'm on the fence. Her father was acting pretty weird when I went to the house. It seemed like he didn't want me asking too many questions...or that he was trying to control what Luis said to me." 

"I'm sorry about yesterday," Leon said suddenly. 

It surprised her. 

"Why?" Ada asked. 

"My mother died when she was pregnant," He said. "With my baby brother. It struck a cord, I guess." 

Ada didn't know what to say. 

_Say something, Wong. Anything._

"I didn't know," She finally said. "I'm sorry if I was--" 

Rude? Mean? A dipshit? 

"No, you weren't. You're right. If I'm going to do this well I can't zero in on a suspect just because he reminds me--" He cut himself off. 

Ada wasn't sure if she should take the opportunity and keep questioning him. She didn't get a chance. 

"Hey, have you eaten?" He asked, interrupting her thoughts.

♔


	11. Moonless Night

♕

Leon picked a modern cuisine fusion place that was more of a sports bar than a restaurant. Ada figured he'd picked it because it was closer to the station and they could get back to work once they ate something. It had taken a bit of harassing from Leon with Ada insisting that she wasn't hungry (even though she realized that she hadn't really eaten since the previous day). Leon won out in the end, which she had to give him props for.

The boy was persistent, certainly. She was still trying to figure out if he was just stupid, or that good. 

She was also trying to figure out if her reluctance to keep getting caught in these situations with him came from her previous notions of him, or if she really wanted to avoid him at all. 

They drew a few stares. Ada in her dark glasses, even though the sun had gone down a half hour ago - and Leon in his uniform. Ada wasn't so aloof to believe they were looking only at him, and besides that fact, she knew she was a knock-out. 

If, say, Ada Wong was your type. 

She got a few winks, and was surprised that no one wolf-whistled. Winks were predatory in their own right, and always made Ada wonder what men were thinking when they did them. 

_Of course she'll run right up and say: take me now, sailor!_

Ada looked around the restaurant. It was already happy hour, and she could tell that the office workers in the area probably came to this place on Friday nights to get drunk and eat breadsticks. Now that she could blame them. Alcohol and breadsticks tended to be the highlight of her week, too. 

The bored host sat them down in a booth and handed them two greasy, laminated menus. Ada could see that at one point, this place had probably been a nice place, but time had marched on and taken with it the gleam of a new restaurant. 

Slippage was inevitable everywhere. 

Leon slid into the booth across from her, his eyes widening just a bit when it made a loud squishing noise. 

"Jesus," He said, laughing. 

Ada peeled open the menu, sliding her dark glasses off of her nose and setting them atop her hair. She looked up, finding that Leon was looking at her. 

"What?" She asked. 

"I fed your cat," He said. 

"Oh shit," Ada said. She had completely forgotten about the Colonel in all of the excitement. "Thank you." 

"You're welcome," He laughed. "Where are you going to sleep tonight?" 

"I'll go home, why?" 

"You never called the super," He reminded her, like he was her husband. "The door is still busted." 

"Shit," Ada said, again. She dropped her head into her hand, rubbing her temples for a minute and forgetting about the menu. 

"You can stay with me again," He said. 

She had a feeling he was going to offer. 

"I think The Colonel kind of likes me, actually," He continued. 

"Oh, do you?" She asked, looking up at him. 

"I do," He said, nodding his head with a smile. 

God. 

"I don't know about that," She replied, hoping they could move right past his offer to let her stay the night again. 

She wasn't sure if she wanted to hear Redfield harass her about it again. She wasn't sure her small, black heart could take it. She hated to admit it to herself, but he was gorgeous, and something about how earnest and sweet he was drew Ada to him like moth to flame. 

White on rice, and so on. 

She didn't even really get a chance to order. 

"Hey!" She heard someone's chipper voice say. 

Ada looked up to see that it was Claire Redfield. She had another cop with her, one whose name Ada couldn't recall no matter how much she tried. 

"Hey Claire," Leon said. "What are you doing here?" 

"We came for a bite before we went back to work," Claire said, still chipper. "The CCTV search has been a bust so far, but one of the big retailers over there said they might have something but they have to reach out to some high high manager to pull it back up," She looked at Ada. "Can we join you?" 

"Oh, I was just about to leave," Ada said, quickly. She hadn't thought about her reply, but it had come out anyway. "But I'm sure Leon would love the company." 

Leon looked at her, a look of surprise crossing his features. It was brief. 

"Sure Claire," He looked back at Ada. "I thought you hadn't eaten--" 

"I've got some loose ends to wrap up," Ada explained, realizing that no one was buying it, but they were too polite to call her on it. "I'll grab something on the way." 

"Ada," Leon said. "Stay and eat." 

"I've got to go. Claire, you can have my seat." 

"I didn't mean to scare you off," Claire said, frowning. 

"Oh, you didn't, I swear," Ada said, frowning at her. "Don't take it personally." 

"Goodnight, I guess," She replied, still frowning. 

"Night," Ada said, in as friendly a way as she could manage. 

Ada slipped out into the ever encroaching night. She took a deep breath, glad that the cold air did brace her a bit. She began walking in the direction of the station, though she turned around and went in the other direction, suddenly having a big desire to take a shower and a nap. 

She turned, realizing someone was next to her. It was Kennedy, who had followed her out into the night. 

"What was that about?" He asked. 

"I just remembered that I have some things to catch up on." 

"I'm worried about you," He said. 

"Kennedy," She said sharply. "Go back inside. Eat. I'll be fine." 

"Ada--" 

"Please don't call me that," She snapped. She regretted it immediately. He looked hurt. "Go inside and eat with Claire. I'll be fine." 

"Fine," He said, holding his hands up in a sign of defeat. He turned on his heel, heading back into the restaurant. 

Ada sighed. It didn't feel like a victory. 

She noticed that the moon was a bare sliver in the sky.

♕

The Colonel was trapped inside of Leon's locked apartment. She supposed she would have to wait for Leon to get home so she could get him back. She wouldn't have been surprised if The Colonel did prefer Leon, even though she liked to believe that they had come to some sort of agreement. They understood each other.

Or maybe, that was all bullshit. 

Leon was friendlier than she was. 

She wasn't sure what she was expecting, but the lock on the door was still busted. Apparently good thoughts and intention weren't enough to get the super to realize that the lock needed to be fixed. She carefully pushed the door open. It gave easily, and creaked on the way. 

Ada stepped into her apartment, which felt less like home now. Maybe she should consider moving. She flicked the light on. It was empty, a bit of a void. She realized she missed the damn cat. 

Ada called Barry. He didn't answer. She left a voicemail, giving him a recap of what Ramon Salazar had told them. She set her phone down on the table, trying to consider what to do about the door. She pushed a bookcase in front of it, though she realized that with enough force, anyone could knock it over. 

She took her shoes off. She dug around in her dresser, finding a set of comfortable clothes to wear while she caught a few hours of sleep. Her toothbrush was in Kennedy's apartment. She brushed her teeth with some old mouth wash and her finger. 

She grabbed her phone. No messages. She set the alarm for a few hours, though she had a difficult time falling asleep once she crawled into her bed. Something felt off about the entire night, and she tossed and turned, thinking about what she had said to Leon. 

She thought she heard something. She sat up, reaching over to turn the lamp on. She looked around the room, which remained untouched. She thought she was overreacting. She turned the light off and slid back underneath her blanket. 

Ada knew she wasn't overreacting when she heard the sure sound of her closet creaking open. 

Damn it. She should have cleared the apartment. 

She pretended not to hear a thing, though her eyes were open. She was trying not to breathe, listening for the soft footfalls of the unwelcome intruder. Her phone was just inches away, but if she reached for it she might alert whoever was in the bedroom with her. 

It happened quickly. The weight of the person on the bed. The feeling of that weight being pressed against her, a hand coming to cover her mouth. Ada smelled a chemical smell, and realized that if she let this person press whatever was in his hand across her mouth it was probably over for her. They were wearing a ski mask, so she couldn't see who it was. 

She kneed the person, right in between the legs. Lucky for her, it was a man. 

While he was groaning and trying to recover the family jewels, Ada was able to get out of the bed. She made a mad dash for her gun, but the guy swung out and caught her ankle, causing her to fall face first into the carpet. 

That was going to leave a mark. 

She swung her free leg around, trying to kick him in the face with it. She succeeded in knocking him off of her for a moment, but she made herself vulnerable by putting herself on her back. He was on her again, struggling to keep her flailing arms and legs at bay. 

Ada fought, with everything she had. She bit, and kicked, and scratched. Of course, she had been taught more elegant ways to fight, but in a fight like this a woman had to use the dirtiest tricks she could come up with. He wasn't so susceptible to being kneed in the balls a second time, and she realized that in the time between then and now, he had come up with a rather dangerous looking Bowie knife. She fought, trying to rattle the knife from his hands as he attempted to strong arm it down on her more than once. 

He seemed hesitant. Maybe he didn't want to kill her. 

Ada was aware that her strength was going to drain eventually. It was going to be a matter of who had more staying power. She wasn't going to let his son of a bitch kill her, she knew that much. 

She couldn't believe her pure, dumb luck when she heard someone banging on her door. 

"Here! Here--" She gasped, fighting as her attacker tried to shove his hand down over her mouth. She bit him, this time, she hit her mark. 

He howled, and it was enough of a disruption to get out from underneath him. She tried again to get to her gun. She heard the loud 'thump, thump, thump' of someone who was trying to get past the bookcase that she had stupidly shoved to keep this man out. 

It didn't work if he was already _in._

She was focused on her gun, and the man was grabbing for her, despite seething through his multiple injuries. Balls, hand. Ada had her sights on whatever other squishy parts she could injure. 

There was a loud crash as the bookcase finally gave way to intention and who else should come barreling through the door but Leon Kennedy. He managed to fly over the now defunct bookcase, in the direction of the fray. He had his gun. 

Thank God. 

It didn't matter. Leon kicked the intruder right in the face, sending him flying backwards. 

He was then, understandably, unconscious.

♕

They were surprised to find that when they pulled away the ski mask he was wearing, it was Barney.

Barney. 

It was the last person Ada was expecting. 

Leon called the police. This time, Ada didn't fight him. She was forced to sit on her couch, watching police officers go back and forth as the scene was processed (again). Burton was pissed, though Ada couldn't figure out what, exactly, he was pissed about. 

Barney was cuffed the minute he was conscious, and shoved into the back of a marked cruiser. 

"Wong," Burton said. "What in the hell were you thinking? Coming back here, alone? Did you even clear the apartment?" 

"No," Ada replied. She knew it was no good to lie to Barry. 

"Of course not. You can't stay here." 

Ada was having deja-vu. 

Barry knew there was no family Ada could stay with, and she was going to refuse to stay with Kennedy again, although he had potentially just saved her life. 

"Alright, Wong. I'm going to put you up in a hotel until we find out if he was the last of this." 

"Barry, that's really not necessary." 

"And Kennedy is now your unofficial body guard." 

"Barry, just because I'm a woman--" 

"Listen, Wong," He began, his voice sharp. "This has nothing to do with the fact that you're a woman. It has everything to do with the fact that all of your training seemed to fly magically out of your head tonight, and you just happened to have left Kennedy this one time, and looked what happened." 

"Barry--" 

He held up his finger. 

"AND," He began. "You have more of a chance of survival if someone is with you. So for now, Kennedy is your unofficial, official body-guard," He looked at Leon. "Try not to get yourselves killed." 

Ada stopped arguing. She was tired of being beat, but she knew when she was beat. And, he had just assigned a rookie to protect her. She had to wonder about how much he really valued her as a cop.

But, she had been stupid. She'd been distracted. 

The reason for her distraction was standing a few feet away with his arms crossed over his chest.

♕

Ada found herself staring Leon Kennedy down as he tried to clean the rug burn that had popped up on her cheek. It stung. She was sitting on a beige, hotel couch. He moved onto her busted lip, which also stung. She took advantage of the moment, looking at his face. Square jawline, ivy-league mouth, aquiline nose.

"How did you know?" She finally asked, quietly. 

He tossed the q-tip he'd been swabbing at her busted lip into the trash, reaching for something else out of his kit. 

"I didn't," He said. "I just had a bad feeling," He admitted. "You're done." 

He leaned back, cleaning up the mess he'd made from trying to fix her up. 

Ada flexed her face. It still stung. She reached up to touch the apple of her cheek, and Leon caught her hand. 

"Don't," He said. 

"Sorry," She muttered, dropping her hand. She was a notoriously bad patient. 

She could tell he was upset. He probably wanted to reprimand her, like Barry had. Maybe his feelings were hurt. 

Before he had a chance to pull away, Ada leaned in and kissed his mouth. She couldn't have guessed why, and she refused to think about why. She just did. 

Leon tensed up, at first, in surprise. She was sure she had made a mistake. 

And then, he grasped her arms and leaned into her. It went from PG-13 to R-rated in a few seconds. Leon kissed her, mouth open. She let him, leaning into the kiss, sliding forward into the lap of a rookie cop. 

Even without alcohol, she made bad decisions. 

She felt it, _everywhere._

♕


	12. Head on Straight

♛ 

The kiss was incendiary, both of them grasping onto each other, as afraid that it would be over too soon. Then, they would have to acknowledge what had happened.

It was natural, then, when Leon's hands grasped her middle, puling her forward. This wasn't the first time he had done this. He was no longer being kissed, but effectively doing the kissing. His mouth and tongue were insistent, and too-warm. 

Pain blossomed black behind her eyes, like ink being dropped into clear water. She let out a rasping noise of pain, forcing the kiss to end abruptly. 

Her eyes watered. Leon pulled back, concern etched across his youthful features.

"What is it?" He asked, clearly concerned if he had gone too far. 

He hadn't. 

"Nothing," Ada said, biting down into her lip and pulling her t-shirt up. 

There was a bit of bruising. A memory flashed, Barney grabbing her ankle and sending her crashing into the floor. It had rattled her, the force of her whole body weight slamming downwards. Ada was sorry to say that it felt exactly like a cracked rib. 

Leon's fingertips felt hot on her skin. His touch was gentle, pressing around on the area to see where the pain was. She thought she could feel the ridges of his fingertips sliding across her rib-cage. This was not how she wanted him to touch her, but in the moment she was glad for his company. 

"We'd better take you to the emergency room," Leon said, looking up at her. His hair had fallen into his face. He looked flushed, adrift in a moment of confusion. 

She had just kissed him without warning, after all. 

"The emergency room? I'll be fine." 

"Yeah," Leon said. "We should make sure nothing is punctured," His tone of voice suggested it was a done deal. 

Not surprisingly, when Leon stood up, he had no trouble lifting her up along with him. She didn't really need to be carried, but she had to admit to herself that she was a bit disappointed when he set her down on the flats of her bare feet. He brushed his uniform off, taking a minute to push his hair out of his face. 

Ada felt tilted. She didn't know what to say. Neither did he, apparently. 

"I'll drive," He said. 

Ada pulled on an old sweater jacket that she wore around the house sometimes, just to have something to cover her while they were in the hospital. She put some food in the Colonel's bowl, though she had a hard time bending, and Leon took the job from her after watching her struggle. The cat was in hiding, pissed about being relocated, again. 

"Here," Leon said, sliding the measuring cup out of her hand, his own hand making full contact with hers. 

Maybe she shouldn't have kissed him. Now, every touch he gave her felt meaningful. He finished rattling dry food into The Colonel's bowl. 

Ada put her shoes on (with trouble). She put her gun on, hiding it underneath the loose fitting jumper. Leon took her hand and they walked, hand in hand, out to the sedan. It felt so significant, but it was so simple. Just his hand, wrapped around hers. 

He helped her slide into the car, stiffly. He went around to the driver's side and slid in after her. 

They didn't say anything to each other.

♛ 

"Insurance card and ID," The nurse behind the glass said to her. She didn't even look up from her computer.

Ada fumbled around for her wallet. She dug it out of the shorts she was wearing, a bad choice for how cold the ER was. She handed over the cards. 

"Have a seat. I'll get these back to you." 

Ada looked for Leon, who was easy to find in his uniform. She wished he had taken a minute to change. He drew stares, some of them mistrustful, some of them interested. He got roped into a conversation with an old man in an electric wheelchair who was enjoying telling him stories of the days when he was in the military. 

Leon was too nice to cut him off, but Ada was glad for the distraction. All of the sudden, she felt clammed up. Ada noticed a young woman in the waiting room. She had bruises on her neck, and wrists. She couldn't have been more than eighteen. She was wearing too much make-up and a sparkling, skin tight dress that Ada was sure she had seen hanging in one of the cheap, pop-up retail stores that came and went downtown. Hooker chic, she liked to call it. 

Ada was freezing by the time they called them back. They took her temperature, her pulse, and her blood pressure and lead them into an ER room that was more a hovel and less a room. It was tiny, just big enough to fit the machines in and a small bed that looked like it had seen better days. 

"You staying?" The nurse asked Leon. He nodded, quickly. 

"May I have a blanket?" Ada asked, trying to be as friendly to this surly nurse as possible. 

"Hold on," She said. 

They never saw her again, so Ada resorted to pulling her legs up as much as she could without hurting her middle and pulling the sweater over them. 

Leon finally went into the hallway and flagged one of the scurrying nurses down, and magically, came back with a blanket. 

"Here," He smiled as he handed it to her. 

"You're good in a crisis, Kennedy," He didn't say anything in reply. "Thank you," She said. 

"For what?" Leon asked, looking at her curiously. 

"For saving my ass," She paused. "I owe you one." 

"You don't," Leon said, taking a seat in the uncomfortable hospital chair. "But, you're welcome." 

Oh god, it was awkward. 

Ada wrapped the scratchy blanket around herself. It wasn't much of an improvement, but she was warming up at least. 

"Ada--" He paused. "I mean Detective, I'm sorry--" 

He was interrupted when the doctor came into the room. Ada was surprised to find it was Annette Birkin, the Coroner's wife. She had forgotten that she worked in the hospital.

"Ada Wong," She said, interrupting Leon without knowing she had. "What happened?" 

"Bit of a scuffle," She said. "I think I may have cracked a rib," She looked at Annette. "What are you doing here tonight?" 

"We're short staffed. I have experience," She said. 

Birkin went about her examination. She listened to her lungs, her heart beat. She checked her ears and nose, though Ada couldn't guess why. 

"Well," Birkin said. "It doesn't sound like anything is punctured," She began. "But we should get an x-ray just to be sure nothing is broken. My guess is it's a cracked rib." 

"Right," Ada said, looking at Leon. "Did you see the young girl? In the waiting room? With the bruises?" Ada asked. 

This caught Leon's attention. 

"Hm?" Birkin looked thoughtful. "Oh, she said someone attacked her." 

"Can I talk to her?" 

"She was discharged a little while ago, Ada, and you know how this works." 

Ada signed. She might have gotten further with her husband, but she doubted it. 

"There's nothing you can tell me?" 

"My guess is it was someone buying sex. He lured her into her car and attacked her, tried to strangle her, and then tried to stick her with something."

"Did you get her name?" Leon asked. 

"Diamond Zales," Birkin said. "Good luck with that, Chip." 

Birkin probably dealt with prostitutes in the ER all of the time. And she most certainly dealt with cops who tried to overstep her client confidentiality rules.

"She didn't leave any personal info?" Ada asked. 

"She may have," Birkin said. "I'll look." 

"Thanks, Doctor," She realized she didn't have any cards. "You'll call me?" 

"I'll have someone come and get you over to x-ray," Annette said. "Assuming it's only a cracked rib, we'll discharge you with an RX for some pain medication and an instruction not to be too active which I know you will not follow," Annette smiled at Ada. "And yes, I'll call you." 

She was gone. Ada realized they probably wouldn't see her again unless there was something horribly wrong with the x-ray. 

"Nice to meet you, officer." 

"Uh," Leon shook her hand. "You too, doctor." 

"Do you think the girl...?" Leon asked, once she was gone. 

"It's consistent with the others," Ada said, sitting up a bit. "If she left an address, Birkin will call." 

Ada's guess was she didn't want to press charges, and Annette was able to get it out of her purely because she had training working with exploited sex workers. 

The nurse came and wheeled Ada out of the room. Leon stayed put, unable to follow her into the x-ray room, though she was sure he would have if they'd let him. He seemed stiff, as if something about hospitals made him uncomfortable. Ada didn't blame him, and she wondered if that was why he never followed through with his burgeoning career as an EMT. 

Ada was forced to take off her bra and stand awkwardly in a cold room while an x-ray tech moved her around like a mannequin. Once it was over, the tech told her she would send the x-rays over to the doctor. 

They were forced to wait another hour before she was discharged, exactly in the manner that Birkin had told her she would be. Her rib was cracked. Not much they could do for it but to let it heal. Leon took her to one of the many 24 hour pharmacies, though Ada didn't have much intention of taking pain meds. They made her brain foggy in a way she didn't like, and she wasn't in so much pain that she was desperate for them. 

It seemed to make Leon feel better to follow the doctors orders, though. 

Birkin hadn't given her many. The rules for pain medication had become more strict in the last years, what with the epidemic of people addicted to pain pills. 

Barry called on the way back to the hospital. 

"Where are you, Wong?" He asked. 

"Headed back from the hospital." 

"Why were you in the hospital?" 

"I may have cracked a rib," She admitted, shifting uncomfortably in the car seat. 

"Shit," Burton said. "We're holding Barney, but he's refusing to speak to anyone but you." 

"I can come in." 

"No, he's not going anywhere," Burton said. "Take a few days." 

"But--" 

"We'll keep working on him. He's being processed, no way he's getting released for assaulting a cop." 

"How long will he be in the jail?" 

"Depends on if he makes bail or not," Burton said. "Hearing is tomorrow." 

Ada couldn't help but feel like the kid had something to do with the dead prostitutes. 

"What about The Graham case?" 

"We have plenty of people working the Graham case," He said. "I want you to get your head back on straight. I'll let you know if anything massive comes up." 

He hung up. 

Ada looked at Leon. 

Head back on straight, huh?

♛ 

The hotel room had separate rooms, thanks to Barry's foresight. Ada wasn't sure how much sleep she would get with Kennedy in a bed right beside hers. He still hadn't said much. He looked as if he wasn't even sure that he wanted to.

Were they going to pretend it hadn't happened? 

Ada looked around for the Colonel as Leon locked the door. The only sign of him was a half empty food dish. Leon pulled the chain on the door, even going so far as to slide a heavy piece of furniture in front of it. The hotel wasn't a motel, but it wasn't the most high class thing in the world. It was the type of hotel that a cop could afford. It was clean, pragmatic. Not fancy. There was a small living space with a skinny TV on a heavy looking TV stand. The couch was clean enough, no visible stains. There was a small kitchenette, which would be next to impossible to cook in, but she doubted that either her or Kennedy had much interest in cooking. 

The small, shitty pod coffee maker would probably see the most action. 

Leon took the room closest to the door, and Ada was forced to take the one across the way. They were both small, with small beds and uncomfortable looking blankets. Ada didn't even want to look and see what might be lurking underneath, so she tried not to think about it. 

"I should change," He said, looking at her. 

"Oh, sure," Ada said. "Thanks again, kid," She turned away from him, prepared to head to her own room. 

"Detective," He said, and she turned around. 

Leon was closer than she realized, having moved. She looked up at him, her eyebrow dropping with some curiosity. 

She felt his hand slide into her hair, cupping the back of her neck. It forced her to tilt her head back, just a bit. She saw all of the determination on his face, his jawline set and his eyes a bit flinty. He kissed her, her own eyes fluttering closed with the sudden onslaught -- though it wasn't exactly an onslaught. 

It was slow, and purposeful. When Ada's lips parted, Leon took his chance and kissed her deeply. Ada let out a noise of surprise and pleasure. Her fingertips found his collar, gripping the fabric there. Ada felt a flush of warmth spreading through her, from her lips all the way down to her feet. She fought the urge to stand on her tippy-toes, just to get closer to him. 

His fingertips drew back through her hair. God, he was oh-so-gentle. 

When he broke away from her, she rocked back on her heels, feeling sure she was about to lose her balance. It took them both a few minutes to open their eyes, and Ada sucked in a deep breath of air that didn't seem to help at all. 

"Stop calling me kid," He said, his voice low and a bit raspy. 

"Why-" She wasn't sure what she was asking him. 

"I wanted to see if it felt the same as it did the first time," He said. "Goodnight, Detective." 

"You can call me Ada," Her voice felt weak, a bit flaky. 

Ugh, this was the kind of vulnerability she had learned to despise. 

"Goodnight, Ada," He said, disappearing into his room, leaving her there a bit stunned.

♛ 


	13. Traitor

☣

Had it felt the same as it did the first time?

Ada heard the water turn on. The pipes rattled. She had a brief thought of stripping down and joining him, but she quickly slapped it away like she might have been swatting at a fly. She put her bag on the bed, intent on at least changing. She felt the emergency room grime clinging to her. She saw the slip of the letter in her bag. 

She had totally forgotten about it. 

She could still go back. She could throw it away and pretend she had never seen it. 

But, she wouldn't have been Ada Wong if she did that. 

She pulled it out, turning it over. It sung, telling her that it was okay to open it. She pushed her finger into the sealed bit, sliding it across the paper. The tear sounded so loud she was sure Leon would catch her out. She pulled the letter out. 

The hand was a scrawl, and difficult to read, but she did her best: 

_Leon,_

_I know you won't read this letter, and that I should stop writing to you, but each time I think of you I can't help but write to you._

_I don't know how many times I can write down that I'm sorry about what I did to your mother. And your brother. I can't forget it, and I can't forgive myself either._

_How could I expect you to forgive me?_

_Leon, please write me back. Even if it's to tell me how much you hate me._

_I heard through a friend of mine that you graduated from the academy and got a job in Raccoon City. That was the first place...._

Ada read quickly through the rest of the letter, where the writer tried to be conversational. She saw it was signed: Michael Kennedy. 

Where had she read that name before? 

She pulled her phone out and did a simple search. 

She saw a bevy of headlines: **Respected detective murders his pregnant wife, right in front of his son**

And various versions thereof. 

"Jesus," She whispered to herself. 

Not only had his father been a cop, he was a murderer, and Leon had seen it. 

No wonder he wanted to be a cop. 

Ada plunked herself down on her bed, looking again at the letter. It felt ugly now, reading it. She wished she could take it back. 

Carefully, she slid it back into the envelope. She hid it in the depths of her bag, sure that Leon wouldn't find it there. He was, apparently, a much better person than she was. Ada wasn't sure she would have lived through something like that. 

She heard a knock on the door. She jumped. 

"Ada," It was Leon. "Bathroom's free if you want it." 

"Thanks," She said, her voice sounding a bit strangled. "Sleep well." 

Nice one, Wong.

☣

Ada didn't sleep well, not surprisingly. She did finally feel desperate enough to take a pain killer, as the pain got much worse as the night marched on. She wondered where the bottle of pills had been placed. She carefully slid out of the uncomfortable hotel bed. She groaned lightly, feeling her cracked rib resist the movement.

She quietly crept out into the living area. She saw the pills, standing solitary on the counter in front of the kitchenette. She grasped them and began routing around for a glass. All she could find were the paper coffee cups that the room provided. She drank the tap water, swallowing the pill along with it. The small fridge was empty. 

Ada thought she would take a shower. The hot water might make her sore body less sore. 

She paused in front of the door where Leon slept. He had left it open, just a crack. She could see him splayed out across the bed, sleeping like a babe. The hem of his shirt rode up just a bit, revealing his abdominal muscles. She wondered what it would be like to run her hands across the skin. She saw, at the end of the bed, The Colonel. 

"Traitor," She whispered. 

He was un-bothered. 

She carefully shut the door, hopeful that the noise wouldn't bother him. She turned the light on in the bathroom. It was a fierce halogen light, and it was almost blinding. She squinted against the onslaught before her eyes adjusted. 

Ada saw herself in the mirror. She looked tired. Her hair needed a wash. She couldn't help but grimace when she lifted her shirt over her head and let it fall to the ground. Every thing hurt much more the day after, and it was getting close to being the day after. Ada slid out of her shorts, a much easier task than the shirt. With her injury, she didn't see herself getting into any of her normal clothes without help. 

She turned the water on. The pressure was too hard, and she realized that if it directly hit her rib cage it was going to cause more pain than anything else would. She looked at the bath. Was it big enough? She decided that it was. She filled the tub up instead, turning the water off when it was full enough. 

She could already feel the blur of the pain killer, but she was determined to finish at least this. She tried to relax (something she was notoriously bad at). She was able to lounge until the water started to cool. 

She wasn't expecting Leon to come barging in, half asleep. She had completely forgotten to lock the door. 

Her hands went up quickly, covering up her chest. 

"Shit!" She exclaimed. 

Leon's sentiments were the same, and he quickly turned around, but Ada was sure he had gotten quite and eye full. 

"Never learned how to knock Kennedy?" 

"I'm sorry," She could hear the laughter in his voice. "I thought something--" 

"It's alright," She said, unable to help her own chuckle. "Can you..." 

"Oh, shit, yes, sorry," He quickly exited the bathroom. 

She stood up and grabbed a too-small towel. She wrapped it around herself, bending over carefully and retrieving her clothes. The pain was less noticeable after a pill. 

She ran her fingers through her damp hair, not having gotten a chance to wash it. She pushed it out of her face, exiting the bathroom with her clothes in her hand. Leon was standing there in the living space. 

"I'm sorry," He said, still trying not to look at her. He very clearly failed. 

_Maybe Claire Redfield wasn't his type?_

"The Colonel was howling at the door, I thought something was wrong." 

"It's alright," She said. "I would do the same thing for you," She looked at the cat. "He doesn't like it when people go to the bathroom without him." 

Of course she would do the same thing for him. 

She moved into her bedroom and carefully got dressed in a clean pair of clothes. She had to keep it simple, and comfortable, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to get dressed. She took the towel out of her room, intent on hanging it up in the bathroom for the staff to take when they came in to clean the room. 

Leon was still standing in the living space. 

"You okay, Kennedy?" 

"I'm fine," He said. "Adrenaline." 

"You want a pill?" Ada asked, playfully. 

"No thanks." 

Ada could feel it, that strange tension that had been there when they met, now building. Now two kisses in. She desperately wanted to dissipate it, but she would have been lying to herself if she said she wasn't afraid of what would happen if she slept with Kennedy. 

Sex had a way of changing things. 

"How's your, uh--" He motioned towards her rib cage. She could tell he was probably thinking about her breasts. 

She had nice breasts. 

"It hurts. I took a pain killer." 

She stepped past him and hung the towel up. The Colonel had hopped up onto the low coffee table, tail flicking back and forth like a metronome. 

"I'm sorry I woke you up. I tried not to." 

"It wasn't you, it was the cat," He paused. "Well, goodnight." 

"Leon," Ada said. "Did it feel the same?" 

"What?" He asked. 

"The kiss." 

"Oh," He smiled. "No, different." 

They parted ways again, for the second time that night. 

Ada slept, but it was fitful.

☣

Ada guessed it was a good thing that she happened to have been given the day off. Her phone reminded her what day it was with ringing bells somewhere around 8 am. She rollover, groaning when she was reminded of her injury, and swiping the alarm off on her phone.

The alarm name was 'D-Day', but Ada wasn't sure why she set it. She knew she would never forget it. 

The anniversary of her parents death. 

Ada wondered how she was going to get around Kennedy. 

She crept into the bathroom and braved a shower. It was painful, like she expected it would be, but she was happy to wash her hair. She used the small little provided blow dryer to style her hair out into the smooth bob she was known for. She was noisier than she meant to be, but when she came out of the bathroom again she found that his door was still closed. 

He had probably been exhausted, after all. 

She saw no sign of the Colonel, but she put food in his bowl and made herself a cup of coffee. She got dressed in a pair of jeans and a tank-top that she pulled a form fitting vest on over. She buttoned it, taking a few minutes to put some make-up on her face. She crept out and grabbed her cup of coffee, putting a lid on it. 

It was too soon to celebrate when Ada heard Leon's door open. She expected to see him coming out in his pajamas and squinting with sleep, but he wasn't. He had been up for awhile. He was wearing a nice sweater and a pair of slacks. Nary a hair was out of place on his head. It was odd to see him out of uniform.

"You're up," She said, surprised. 

"Have been for awhile," He admitted, shaking his hair out of his face. "How are you feeling?" 

"I've been better," She admitted, taking another drink of coffee. "I have an errand I need to run." 

"I'm ready," He said. She wondered if he somehow knew about the date, but she didn't know how he would...and then, she thought about Burton. 

"Burton told you, didn't he?" 

"Yeah," Leon sighed out. "He did. He was concerned about you slipping away." 

"Uh-huh," Burton knew her too well. She took another drink of coffee. "You want some coffee?" 

"I had some," He said. 

She watched him pull on a wool coat. It looked expensive. He looked nice. A bit grown up. His uniform had the misfortune of calling attention to his age. 

Ada pulled on her own bomber style jacket before tossing her now empty cup into the trash. 

"Well I guess that means I'm not going alone," Burton would hear about it. 

"Guess not," Leon held the door open for her. 

Leon drove. They stopped at the flower shop that Ada stopped at, only once a year. She wandered around, sunglasses perched on top of her head. Even though it was the middle of February, and still cold, the sun had come out for the first time in weeks. 

"Hey, Miss Wong," It was the shop owner, an older man who had gotten used to seeing her. "Who's this?" 

"Leon Kennedy," He offered up his hand for a shake. 

"I wondered when you would come in with a man," It was common to hear this. Singledom was a bad thing, especially to the older generation.

"Don't get too excited," She said. "He's a colleague," 

"Hm," He replied. "Same thing as every year?" 

"Yeah." 

Her mother had liked yellow flowers. So, she got her yellow flowers. She paid him and they exited the shop, flowers in tow. 

The dead were buried up in the hills, if a person could afford a burial. Most people went with the much cheaper cremation, and set the ashes in centers made specifically for housing the ashes of the dead. You paid rent on the space until it was paid off, and people could leave photos and flowers as if it were a grave. And, it provided a subtle distance from having the ashes of your loved one in your home. 

Ada's parents were buried in the ground, a service that Barry had paid for right before he'd adopted her. 

They hardly ever spoke about it, and only a few people knew that legally, she was Burton's daughter. 

They made their way up into the hills. Ada was always fascinated to see the telltale signs of the city fade into the mountains. It was rural, for certain. The land was better up here. There were a few surviving farms, even. It was green. The kind of green that always shocked her with it's intensity. It was easy to forget with the fugue of gray colors that often plagued the city. 

"Wow," Leon said, leaning a bit to get a look at the passing country side. 

"Never been up here, country boy?" She asked, unable to help the moniker. 

"The country I'm used to is all plains and wheat grass, if you recall," He looked at her with a small smile before he turned into the cemetery parking lot. 

This was something that should have made Ada really uncomfortable. Sharing this part of her life with anyone was difficult, and it had only been done with Burton because he had been a close friend to her parents. 

She had gotten lucky. 

She couldn't even dream of telling any of her ex boyfriends about this. But here Leon was with her, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. 

Ada knew she should not be leaning on a young, rookie cop. How could he be so solid? 

He had proved to be pretty solid so far. 

Ada was the one who was flapping in the wind. 

She got out of the car, taking the flowers with her. Leon followed behind her at a respectful distance, his hands shoved into the pockets of his long, dark coat. Ada thought that she could get him a pair of shades and he would have made a convincing body guard. She wore pointed boots that had a small heel - which she was glad for. They didn't fall through the grass, and saved her feet from the wet mud. 

It must've been raining. 

Ada did her duty. She cleaned the leaves and detritus off of the graves. They were buried right next to each other, the stones reading the same day of death. There was an old bottle of Baijiu that Ada had left at her father's grave, a particular favorite of his. She was surprised to find it was still there. 

Ada sat down in front of them. She wasn't one to talk to them, they were dead and they couldn't hear her, but she knew she should stay awhile. 

She didn't really know how much time had passed, but the moment was interrupted when an intensely chilly wind picked up. Ada could feel the moisture in it, the cold sting of water that threatened to turn into rain. 

"How many times am I going to get caught in the rain with you, Kennedy?" 

They were forced to leave in a hurry, running towards the dark, unmarked car that was the only one left in the lot. It was a bit spooky, actually, and Ada was thankful that she wasn't alone. They managed to get into the car without being totally soaked. Leon put the key in the ignition and turned the heater on. 

Ada could see the drops of moisture clinging to his corn silk hair. 

"I'm sorry about this," Ada finally said, shrugging out of her wet jacket and setting it on the back seat. 

"About what?" 

"You having to babysit me. It's only because..." Ada paused. "He adopted me." 

"Burton?" Leon asked. 

"Yes, right after they died." 

"Do you mind if I ask how they died?" 

"Car accident," She said, finding it flowed like water. "There was some kind of animal. My mom swerved to miss it. It was an undeveloped road, so no guard rail. The car went right into a lake. They panicked, couldn't get the doors open." 

"Shit," Leon muttered. She was glad when he didn't say he was sorry. 

The look on his face was enough consolation. 

"We're both orphans," He said. 

"We are?" 

He nodded, but he didn't say anything more. 

"I don't think we should try driving in this," He finally said. 

The rain was coming down in sheets. Even with the windshield wipers on, it was difficult to see. Ada looked at the clock, not surprised to find that it was late afternoon, drowsing into evening. 

She was surprised when her phone started ringing, though she guessed she shouldn't have been. 

"Wong," It was Burton. "How do you feel about coming back to work tomorrow?" 

"I thought you told me to take a few days." 

"Well, we have a few leads we need to run down. And the husband wants to talk." 

"Luis?" That was a bit surprising. 

"Yeah, he agreed to come in tomorrow. Where are you?" 

"The cemetery," She said, as if Burton didn't already know. 

"Listen, I had the lock replaced on your door. They put a keypad in," He said. "You have to hit zero a few times and then it will have you set your own code. Don't put anything stupid, like your birthday." 

"That really wasn't--" 

"It was cheaper than keeping you up in that hotel for another night. Make sure you clear it this time," He said. "Let me talk to Kennedy." 

She handed the phone over to Leon, who looked surprised. 

"Sir?"

☣


	14. Hello, Goodbye

☣

When Ada walked into work the next morning, she was in more pain than she had been. It had become itchy, the wonderful sign that it was healing and she was not allowed to scratch.

It had been weird not sleeping near Leon, though she settled herself with the fact that he was right across the hallway if something happened. Still, Burton's lock was high tech enough that she doubted anyone would be coming through so easily again. 

Ada was glad to sleep in her own bed, and The Colonel seemed happy to be home again. 

Leon made sure to clear the apartment before he let her inside. 

Then, still damp from the rain, he had said goodnight and made his way across the hall, back into his own apartment. 

She hadn't beaten him to work. He was sitting at his desk, going over what looked like phone records. Quietly, she set a paper bag in front of him, along with a freshly brewed cup of coffee she had bought at Carlos' stand. 

"What's this for?" He asked, looking up at her. 

"Small thanks," She said, pushing her sunglasses up onto her head and moving past his desk. 

She was trying not to think about how much she didn't like not at least sleeping in the same apartment with him. She was glad she had work to do, though Burton had told her she wasn't allowed to work any more than ten hours a day until she was healed up. For most people, that day would be too long - for Ada, it was pretty short. 

But, she had work to do. 

There was still the issue of Barney, who was refusing to talk to anyone and kept requesting her. It was creepy, considering where he'd been and how he had attacked her. Ada had dealt with creepers before, however, and she doubted it would be the worse part of her day. There had been a hit on the security cameras. Ada's mind was on the prostitutes, though. She couldn't help but think that Barney had something to do with it. 

She had an idea to pull the list of the attendees at the convention the janitor had mentioned where the body was found. One body had been found in an alleyway, but she thought maybe there might have been something in the area that might have been along the same lines. The second body had been found in a dumpster, rolled up in a big black garbage bag. It seemed like it was in the middle of nowhere, but again, Ada was going to have to look closer. 

First, Barney. 

He was still waiting for his hearing, which had been pushed back a day or two. Ada found him sitting in one of the cells, atop the small bed that was provided with his feet pulled up against his chest. 

She motioned for the officer to bring him into a room, cuffed. 

"Hey," She heard, from behind her. It was a voice she was getting used to. "I hope you weren't thinking of putting yourself in a small room with him alone." 

It was Leon.

"There would be people watching," She said. "Besides, he might not talk if you're in the room." 

"I have specific instructions not to let you do anything stupid." 

"That's a tall order," She said. 

"Well, alone, anyway." 

"Listen, Kennedy-" She wanted to say: _I'm no shrinking violet._

He held up his hand. 

"I know you're about to say something snarky and tell me to stick it up my ass," He said. "But maybe we can come to an agreement. I'll watch through the mirror, and we leave the door unlocked." 

"What about him?" 

"He'll be cuffed," Leon said, shrugging his broad shoulders. 

"Fine." 

God damn it, he really was spending too much time with her. 

Barney mumbled for the first five minutes of their interview. She had seen something akin to it before, a side effect of 'G', which made a person seem like they were asleep even when they were awake. 

Ada leaned in, trying to hear what he was saying. Was any of it even sensible? He didn't even seem to realize she was there, after asking for her repeatedly. 

"Barney," She said, softly at first, and then more loudly. 

Leon rapped on the glass. It seemed to wake him up. 

"Ada Wong," He said. Suddenly, he was the sharp kid he had been when they had brought him here the first time around.

"What happened to you?" 

"Nothing, nothing that isn't bound to happen to all of us." 

"What's that?" 

"Eyes open, Detective. You ready for the rebirth?" 

This was some seriously spooky cult shit. 

"What are you talking about, Barney?" 

"I wasn't supposed to kill you," He leaned in. "But I wanted to. I thought, I was sure-- if he could only -- "

"Who, Barney?" 

He was mumbling again. Ada couldn't make it out. 

And then she realized what he was saying, over and over again. 

_Under the umbrella._

Like some clown in some horror movie that abducted kids, he kept repeating it and repeating it until something set him off. He was up out of his chair in seconds, hurtling towards Ada with renewed intensity. 

This time, she was more prepared. She pulled out military grade mace and sprayed him right in his eyes. Kennedy was through the door before he had time to howl, though it certainly came through. He was subdued, but Leon punched him in his face, knocking him backwards. Knocking him out. Giving him _another_ black eye. 

"Jesus, Kennedy!" She said. "He was subdued!" 

"I know," He said, shaking his hand out after flexing his fist. "But he was creeping me out." 

"You could get in trouble for that," She said, flicking his badge. 

They both laughed. 

"Glad to see you're both getting along so well," It was Barry. 

Shit. 

"But that is considered assault by a police officer, children," He motioned at the now prone Barney.

☣

Luis never showed.

Ada spent the day in the station, waiting for him, until it grew dark. She had a lot of paper to push. She was calling around, trying to see if she could get lists together of the conference where the body had been found. It had been easy at the place where they'd met the janitor, but Ada had been having a hard time making the connection in the other areas of town. There were a few places that held conferences, one of which was the large Raccoon City park which did all manner of civic minded activities. 

The title of the conference she could find brought her a feeling of unease. 

**The science of living forever.**

She realized she was probably going to have to show up to the civic center and be a bitch, considering any government run institution was just going to transfer her around to different departments until someone got irritated and hung up on her. Even if she was a cop. She got the same run around. 

When she looked at the clock again, it was past 6 pm. She had a feeling. She didn't know if it was a bad feeling, but it was a feeling. She had gotten used to following her feelings. 

She gathered up her calf length, black coat. She'd managed to get herself into a red button down, and she managed to tuck it into a pair of slacks. It wasn't preferred, but it was easier. She pulled her coat over her shoulders. She thought she could slip past Kennedy, but he was better than she gave him credit for. Once she was out the front door and headed in the direction of the parking garage, she heard his familiar footfalls behind her. 

"This is getting out of hand, Kennedy," She said. "Did Barry tell you to stalk me?" 

"Nope," He replied. "He'll put the paperwork through tomorrow." 

"What paperwork?" Ada was forced to stop and look at him. 

"I'm your official new partner," His voice was chipper, and a bit wry. 

Barry really did have a lot of faith in this kid. It was hard not to, looking at him. Ada turned on her heel and headed in the direction of the parking garage, choosing not to respond to it. 

"What?" He asked, following after her at a pace. "No mean reply? No sarcastic remark?" 

"Give me a break, Leon," She muttered. 

She dug around in the pocket of her jacket. She found one wrapped lemon candy. Thank God. She pulled the wrapper off with her teeth and shoved it into her mouth. It was old, and very stale. It tasted like keys. She coughed, before spitting it out onto the sidewalk. 

Leon arched both of his brows and looked at her. 

"I'll talk to Barry about this." 

She thought he was about to start skipping. He was gold. He was bullet proof. He had the favor of the Chief. Ada wasn't quite sure why, was it a punishment? Was it something else? Kennedy had just made the jump that all beat cops hoped to make, right into homicide. 

"You can," He said. "But it seemed pretty final--" 

Ada kept walking, her boot heels clacking loudly when they entered the parking garage. 

"Where are we going?" 

She ignored him. 

Ada fumed the entire time they were in the car. She dug around in the dash for more candy, shoving two of them in her mouth. It didn't have the same effect as smoking two cigarettes, however. It most certainly was not. 

Leon seemed, if she had to admit it to herself, smug. Or maybe, she was just projecting onto him exactly how she would feel if their situations were reversed. 

She was angry with herself that she had bought him a muffin and coffee. 

What, exactly, had she been thinking? 

What, exactly, was she angry about? 

She looked at him, realizing, in some ways, that it felt like a goodbye. 

She absolutely could not make out with her partner. Or, for that matter, do anything that came after making out with her partner. 

The mood in the car grew darker when Leon realized where they were. Ada realized that the feeling she had had earlier was a bad feeling. The manse looked eerie. There were lights set on the bushes that surrounded the property. When she tried the call box, no one responded. 

They parked the car in a place where it wouldn't be seen. 

Leon had his flashlight out. He jogged around the edge of the property, and returned moments later. 

"There's no one in the guard booth," He said, his tone quiet and drawn. 

Ada could tell that they both had a bad feeling. 

"Come on," Ada said. 

Ada pushed on the gate. It yielded with a loud creak, which was a surprise to both of them. It wasn't locked, which meant that there might be more of a gray area when Burton asked them why they had the bright idea to trespass. 

'Bad feeling' was not something that usually flew with Barry. 

They quietly made their way up the drive. Ada could see there were no cars in the driveway, which might indicate that no one was home. Ada pulled her gun out, along with her own flashlight. 

They made their way up the stone steps to the front door. Ada knocked. She called his name. She knocked again. Finally, she tried the door. It opened, just like the gate had. 

"We should call for backup," Leon said. "This house is huge." 

"We will," Ada whispered. 

They swept through the living space, and then, they came to the kitchen. Ada could already smell the smell of someone who was decomposing. She tried to make excuses, thinking perhaps that it was something in the trash that hadn't gotten thrown out. 

But Ada knew. 

"Shit," Leon said, pulling his forearm up to his nose. 

Ada saw him a few seconds afterwards. He had fallen forward. Ada could see the oil slick of blood, and the mess of it that plagued his skull. It was pretty clear that someone had shot him in the head. And, it was pretty clear that it was Ashley Grahams' husband, Luis. There was no mistaking the dark, long hair. There was cereal, and dried milk swung out across the floor. 

Ada swung her flashlight up. The window had shattered. 

Whatever was happening here was starting to have a high body count. 

☣

"We found a shell casing."

"Where at?" 

"Out in the yard," He motioned. "They marked it," He showed her the bag. "It's an unusual gun for a civilian to have." 

"Of course," Ada said. "No sign of the gun, I'm guessing." 

"No, you're not that lucky, but there might be a partial boot print. They're processing it now." 

"Thanks," She told the tech that was back on his way to completing his job. 

"No cars in the garage," Leon said, returning to her side. "We put a BOLO out for the plates on his, at least." 

"Looks like they got him right through the window. He was eating cereal." 

"Whoever it was would have had to have good aim," Leon said, looking at the shattered window. "But why?" 

"Maybe it had something to do with the fact that he was trying to talk to me." 

"You think he was about confess to something?" 

"Maybe," Ada said. "Let's wait for them to process the scene. Did we find anything on the CCTVs?" 

"We did, we think," Leon said. "They copied it, it's on my desk." 

Ada realized that this was going to require more footwork. They were going to have to ask the neighbors if they had heard anything. The coroner had estimated that he had been dead for only a few hours. Ada guessed, because of the cereal, that it had probably happened shortly after everyone went to work. 

The neighbors probably hadn't even been home, but Ada knew they had to try. 

Ada heard that small voice in her head. If only she'd been at work, maybe this wouldn't have happened. 

When Ada got back to the office, she flipped through the autopsy. The shell casings in Ashley Graham looked like they matched the one that was responsible for Luis, but Ada would have to wait for confirmation from an expert. She kept re-reading, hoping that something would jump out at her. Nothing did. 

Leon came back with her, of course. He was getting harder and harder to shake. 

Ada watched the footage they had scrounged up. It was fairly clear footage of Ashley driving in the area. It looked like she was turning into the parking lot of the super center. 

"We should call them again," Ada said. "They might have footage of her in the store." 

"Alright," Leon said. "Now?" 

"No, tomorrow," Ada said. "Looks like someone is waiting for you," She pointed. 

Ada had noticed Claire, lingering around. It was late for a cop to be around unless they were working the night shift. Ada happened to know that usually, Claire didn't. 

"Oh, she offered to buy me a drink." 

"So go," Ada said. "You're not officially a detective until tomorrow. Go celebrate." 

"Come with us," Leon said. 

"I can't," Ada said. "I've got some things to do here." 

"Then, I'll stay and help." 

He really was stubborn. 

"Leon, don't keep a poor girl waiting. Beat cops don't have to work extra time, at least not tonight." 

"I happen to know Detectives don't, either," His voice was soft. Something about it hurt, sticking in her chest like a poorly swallowed pill. 

"I've got to talk to Burton," She said, motioning to this closed door with her pen in hand. "But maybe I'll meet you." 

Ada knew she wouldn't. He might have known it too, but he gave it up. He gave it up, for the night. 

"Goodnight, Detective." 

"Night, Detective," She said, resigned to her fate. 

Ada didn't even bother watching them leave. 

She got up and knocked on Burton's door. 

He was into his second desk whiskey. 

"Wong," He said. He poured her a shot without asking. 

Ada downed it, easily. She set the glass back on his desk. 

"What were you thinking?" She asked. 

"What? Sounds like a question I should be asking you." 

"Promoting Kennedy to Detective, even though he's about twelve years old and he's been here for about thirty seconds." 

Burton poured himself another drink. 

"He's the only one stupid enough to work with you." 

"Now I know that's not true. And I'm more than happy to work on my own." 

"That isn't how this works, Ada," He said, gruffly. 

"Why not?" 

"Ada," Barry waxed serious when he'd been drinking. He rarely ever used her first name. "He's a good kid. He's got a good brain. It's in his blood." 

Did Barry know? 

"What's that got to do with me?" 

Barry looked at her with that look that suggested that he was tired of hearing this song and dance. 

"I know you had it rough when you got stuck with me," He held up his hand, preventing her from arguing. "I didn't give you a very good example," He muttered. "But living the way you do...it's only gonna end up in misery and loneliness. And it's not gonna bring your parents back." 

He paused. He might have been more drunk than she realized. 

"Why don't you give the kid a chance?"

☣


	15. Impulsive Ada Wong

❥

_Give the kid a chance._

It had been almost a year since Ada had been able to keep a partner. Her last one had decided to quit the force to become a full time mother. Not that Ada judged her for her choice, but she missed Hunnigan more than she was willing to admit. She had been capable, and she had put up with Ada with ease. She thought that she should give her a call and see if she wanted to get a drink, or have a drink brought to her, as Ada remembered that her kid would be in his terrible twos now. 

After Hunnigan, she had gone through them like candies. 

_Give the kid a chance._

It was advice that Barry gave freely but very rarely followed. He had been divorced twice, and was on wife number three. Still, Ada felt like he was often right even if he didn't follow his own advice. 

When Barry left, Ada decided it was probably better to go home. The station was never really empty, but her feeling was that she should at least have someone in her eye line. The station should have been the safest place she could be, but one could never know. 

She gathered a few files and stuck them in a folio she sometimes carried back and forth from work. She made sure she had her gun. 

She walked home alone. 

Ada stopped at the convenience store, thinking that her life was taking up it's normal course more quickly than she thought it would. She thought about Leon and Claire, and wondered if they were getting drunk together and on the fast track to making a mistake she had made a few times. 

The bright lights of the place made her feel nostalgic for something she couldn't quite put her finger on. She stood in the candy aisle, running her fingers along the packages until she came on the lemon candies she preferred. She pulled a few bags away from the hanging hook before making her way down the liquor aisle. 

Perhaps she was feeling romantic, but she bought a bottle of red wine instead of her usual whiskey. She paused, grabbing one of the wine openers that hung as an 'impulse buy' in the aisle. She stopped at the freezers and pulled out a freezer pizza. A meal of champions. 

It felt like a treat, anyway. 

A distraction, maybe. 

She put the items on the counter, glad to find that Marty was there. He began swiping. He didn't even blink at the alcohol, he knew how old she was. He probably knew her birthday, he had looked at her ID so many times before. 

"Hey Marty," She said. 

"Hey Detective," He smiled. "How are you?" 

"Good enough," She pulled her wallet out. 

"About to be better," He motioned towards her items. 

"Oh yeah, living the dream." 

He put it all in a plastic bag for her. 

"Looks like you might have a date." 

"With myself," She replied, swiping her card. 

"Aw, Detective, you know I'd take you out." 

"Didn't you just get out of high school, Marty?" 

"Well yeah, but age is just a number," He looked around. "Where's Leon tonight?" 

"I'll look forward to seeing you on 'Catch a Predator," She said. "Out with his girlfriend." 

"Girlfriend?" He looked a bit confused, handing her a receipt. "Well, you know where I am if you change your mind. Goodnight, Detective." 

"Goodnight Marty, stay safe." 

It was usually the nicest thing Ada could manage to say to people. 

With Marty, she meant it. It wasn't easy working the night shift in a convenience store in a not-so-great area of town. Especially when one was freshly eighteen. 

Ada made it home safely. Leon's door was quiet. He was probably out. 

She had to try her code twice, thankful for the third time being the charm, because after that it would lock her out. She made sure she heard the 'ding' of the lock behind her, and set her bags on the kitchen counter. 

The Colonel came bounding out of the bedroom where he'd probably been snoozing, howling out a meow that sounded remarkably like an accusation. 

Probably: Where have you been? My food bowl is half empty. 

She poured more kibble into the bowl, and he went to town. 

Ada preheated the oven. She began rooting around in her cabinets for a wine glass. She was relieved when she found them, though they were all covered in dust. They had been her parents. Ada had no real cause to buy herself wine glasses, but she was glad that she had held onto them. She washed and dried one, setting it on the counter. 

She opened the wine with a pop, letting it sit for a few minutes while she went about unearthing the box pizza and putting in the oven. 

She was thinking about Ashley Graham, and now her husband. Her mind drifted again to what Barney had been saying underneath his breath. 

What was it with the damn umbrella? 

She set the timer and moved back into the living room and rooting around for her laptop. 

She pulled it open and began searching around on the internet. She pulled up the information that she had been looking at earlier, reading a bit more deeply about 'the science of living forever'. One name that came up frequently was 'Albert Wesker'. When she looked at the list she had from the conference, she found that he was on it, one of the key speakers. 

"Huh," She said, quietly. 

She had lost track of time when she heard someone knocking on her door. She got up, reaching for her gun. She had a peep-hole, but was careful to step up close to the door. She wasn't sure if someone else had come, and maybe they also had a gun. She was trying to be more careful, just like Barry had said. 

"Who is it," She said, her voice firm and low. Maybe through the door whoever it was would think she was a man. 

"It's Leon," She heard back. 

She carefully stepped up to the door, looking in the peephole. Sure enough, it was Leon. 

She was surprised. 

Ada set her gun down and unlocked the door. She thought that maybe he was drunk, and he'd gotten it into his head to come here. He had put on civilian clothes somewhere between the last time she'd seen him and now. He smelled like a bar, but he didn't smell drunk. He didn't even look drunk. 

"Hey," He said, smirking at her. He held up a bag. "I brought burgers." 

"Oh, I have a pizza," It was better to keep shutting him down, nicely. 

"Oh--" He looked disappointed, and then surprised as Ada's fire alarm started ringing. 

Ada turned to see the oven smoking. 

"Shit!" She muttered, quickly running towards the kitchen to retrieve (a hopefully salvageable) pizza from the oven. 

Ada reached for her hot pad and pulled the oven open, coughing as the smoke rushed out. She fanned it out of her face, scrambling to get the charcoal black pizza out of the oven. Leon was in the apartment at that point, coughing and shutting the oven behind her. They both looked at the pizza. 

"Good," She said. "This was what I wanted for dinner." 

"How long ago did you put this in here?" He asked, poking at the charred pizza. "It's not even a pizza anymore." 

"A-ha," She said. "Have fun at my expense." 

She rolled her eyes, dumping the pizza into the trash. 

"I got distracted. I was looking at something in regards to one of the cases." 

"It's lucky I brought burgers, then," He said. "Did you find anything?" 

He pulled open the bag and pulled a french fry out, munching down on it. 

"Something, maybe." 

He was already in. It would be difficult to kick him out now. 

"Do you want some wine?" She asked, watching as he went after another fry. 

"Wine and burgers," He said. "Exactly the kind of class I've come to expect from you, Detective." 

Ada rolled her eyes and pulled down another wine glass. She was smiling, though.

❥

After they had emptied the burger bag, Ada took a sip of the red wine. She didn't know much about wine, but it wasn't too sweet, so she drank more of it. Leon seemed less impressed. He liked beer, obviously, but Ada didn't have any beer.

"What happened to drinks with Claire?" She asked, trying to make herself seem less obvious. 

She felt obvious. 

"We went for a beer," He said, setting his wine glass down. "She had to get over to her boyfriends." 

Leon looked at her. Was he being the obvious one, now? 

Boyfriend? 

Shit. 

"So you came here?" She asked. 

He ignored her question. 

"You going to tell me what you found?" 

Ada watched as he got up from the carpet and sat next to her on the couch, peering at her laptop. 

"I've seen this guy before," Leon said. 

"You have?" 

"Yeah, I went to one of his talks." 

"Why?" Ada asked, trying to keep her facial expression from shifting into 'but why?' 

"Had to go to one of his lectures for a class I took," He said. "He believes that with the right chemistry, we can live forever." 

"Like, cryogenically freezing people?" 

"Not really," Leon said. "He believes he can do it before it's even necessary for you to be frozen. Why did this come up?" 

"He was the keynote speaker at the conference where you found the girl." 

"What about the others?" Leon asked. 

"There were a few places in the areas where the others were found where there might have been conventions," She said. "It might just be a coincidence." 

"Might be," He said. "We're going to see about the other venues, I'm guessing?" 

"I called," Ada said. "One of them is the civic center and they transferred me around until someone hung up on me." 

"Look," Leon said, pointing. 

Strangely enough, it was an umbrella.

❥

Leon clicked through the pages that Ada had read. There wasn't anything remarkably telling, but Ada had a small feeling that they might have been onto something. Would this guy be so obvious as to dump bodies where he was giving key-note speeches?

Surely, he didn't think the cops were that stupid. 

Ada finished her wine. Leon didn't. 

"Interesting how it doesn't say anything about how he does this," Leon pointed out. "Maybe we should go to the next one." 

He had clicked on the 'schedule' page, and Ada could see that there was a list of future events. The next one was in a few days. Ada stood up, moving around and cleaning up. 

"Good idea, Kennedy." 

"I am a detective," He said. 

"You're still a rookie," Ada pointed out. "But you've been assigned to me for the time being." 

"I don't know, Chief said 'detective'." 

"Did you record it? Because I'm not sure I believe you," 

"So we're really not going to talk about it, huh?" 

Ada looked at him. 

"What?" 

"You kissed me, I kissed you." 

"I thought we did talk about it," She deferred. 

"We did not." 

Maybe he was a little bit drunk. 

"Why did you kiss me?" He asked. 

"Why did you kiss me?" She said. It came out a bit snappy, defensive. 

"I told you why," He was unruffled by it. 

Damn, people who were unruffled by her sarcasm were really her kryptonite. 

"I..." She tossed the fast food bag in the trash. "I wanted to," She admitted. 

"That was all there was to it?" 

She didn't know what to say. 

"Listen, Ada," He said, leaning forward. "I like you." 

She was frozen, looking at him curiously. He was waiting for her to reply. 

"If you don't like me, that's all you have to say." 

"Leon, we're about to be partners," She said. "It's a very bad idea." 

"But not the worst idea I've ever had," He replied. 

"I don't doubt that," She replied. 

He was like a magnet. 

He was in front of her sooner than she estimated, trying to get some sort of response from her. 

"That wasn't an answer," He reminded her. 

She expected that she should feel cornered, but she didn't. She searched for it, but it didn't come up. It was nowhere to be found. 

This time, when she kissed him, she slid her hands along his face. He smiled. It was a soft, brief peck. at first, and then there was another. And another, each one lingering a bit longer than the last. She felt his hands brushing strands of hair away from her cheeks. 

It was slow, a far cry from the first two that had been brief and testing. 

Leon got brave. His hands dropped to her waist, sliding along the crux of her waist down to her hips. His fingertips slid into her belt loops and he pulled her forward. She initiated, but each time she did he seemed to get bolder with his actions. 

Ada let him, the small voice in the back of her head telling her that she should stop this getting much smaller the closer he got. 

He smelled like clean laundry and soap. His mouth tasted like beer, but Ada found she wanted more of it. 

Before long, they were on her couch, making out like two teenagers on prom night. The only thing she was consequently aware of was that he was between her thighs, and she had wrapped her legs around him. The pressure and the weight of him drove all good sense out of her head. 

Her fingertips found their way underneath his shirt, like heat seeking missiles. They passed along his abdomen. He was warm, hot, even. Firm. His stomach dipped a bit underneath the ghosting touch of her hands. 

_Ada Wong, you know better than this._

_Impulsive Ada Wong, you'll deal with it in the morning._

❥


	16. We doing this?

❤

Ada's mouth was open, Leon's kiss having become more insistent. She was breathless, and she felt hot. Her fingertips grasped his t-shirt in bundles and he pulled back from her mouth for a brief moment to allow her to lift it over and off of him. She tossed it to the ground, her hands greedily tracing his stomach and chest, sliding up and along his biceps before they landed at his neck.

She was surprised to find scar tissue, right at his collarbone. She traced her fingertips along it, memorizing the ridges and bumps of it. It was a hesitation mark. A knife wound, she could tell that much. Leon let her touch it, his kiss becoming slower and deeper as he grabbed her hips and shifted her forward. She gave a gasp as he hauled her up, easily, and she found herself settled into his lap. 

It was, admittedly, a position Ada liked. 

Leon's hands were also insistent, moving from subtle touches to hurried ones in a matter of seconds. They were everywhere, sliding just beneath her breasts before his fingertips began a campaign of devastation on her button up shirt. 

Alright, he had done this before. 

How many times, she wasn't sure, but with each passing moment he lost his hesitancy. 

Ada counted. One button, two, three. She lost count, but she felt him pull the hem of the shirt out of her pants and finish the job. She pulled her arms behind her, sliding out of the now unbuttoned shirt. She heard it fall to the carpet.

Ada's hands found the fastenings of his pants. Suddenly distracted, her fingertips dipped lower, she could feel the length of his cock straining against his pants. She unfastened his pants. 

She enjoyed the haggard, surprised breath he released when her fingertips passed over him. 

Leon's warm, dry hands passed over her stomach and sides, palming over her breasts. His hand slipped behind her, and unlatched her bra. She felt the chill air on her chest, causing her nipples to harden in response. His thumb tip passed over the puckered skin, causing her to release a small moan against her will. 

He pulled back, causing her to fumble a bit. He looked at her like he'd been wanting to see her naked for awhile. The feeling was mutual. His hands pushed her hair out of her face, sliding down the bare expanse of her neck and ghosting down along her chest, right between her breasts. 

"We doing this?" He asked, near as breathless as she was. 

Ada had a chance to jump ship, but the throbbing insistence, wet and warm between her thighs completely fucked up her decision making skills. 

She nodded. 

"You have something?" He asked. It said something about him that he hadn't stuck a condom in his pants before he'd come over there. 

"Bedroom," She replied, barely. Ada had malfunctioned. 

He had no trouble getting up from the couch. He kept his arms around her, picking her up just enough so that her toes barely touched the carpet. He swung her out like a dancer, his mouth finding hers again as he dragged her back towards the bedroom. She was forced to slide her arms over his shoulders, but found she didn't mind the arrangement at all. 

Leon set her down on the bed, and she went about peeling her pants off of herself, kicking them off quickly. 

She pointed to the side table, and Leon found what he was looking for with ease. 

Ada laid back, watching him as he got rid of his own, pesky pants. She chewed her bottom lip as he slid out of his black underwear (boxer briefs, she could have guessed it). Jesus, he was pretty. She wanted to put her mouth on him, like, _everywhere_. 

She didn't get much of a chance to, that round. 

She watched as he ripped the condom open with his teeth and put it on. 

Definitely not his first time. 

His hands hooked themselves in her silky panties and yanked them down off of her with more force than he probably intended. 

What would people do if they knew he was capable of stuff like this? 

Leon's hands ran along her legs, sliding in between her thighs. She parted them, willingly, and he found his way between them again. It completely murdered what was left of her good sense. 

He rolled his hips down, running the length of his cock along the wet warmth of her sex. She released a throaty moan, arching up against him. He took himself in hand, pressing the tip of his erection against her. Ada couldn't help the moan that escaped her when he slid inside, first an inch, and then another, and another. It was slow, he was being careful. 

"You've done this before," She said against his ear. "Went for a roll in the hay with the girl next do--" 

Taking revenge for the sarcasm and effectively shutting her up, he plunged himself inside of her totally. Ada released a surprised moan, high pitched and a bit throaty. It wasn't fair when he could get back at her like that -- _but God, was it good._

He seemed to already know that he could be a bit rough with her, strangely enough. 

Or maybe the tension between them had just been that bad. 

He was slow at first, but he picked up apace in short order. Ada was more than accommodation, spreading her thighs just enough to give him the purchase he needed. Her hands ran along the pleasant ridges of his broad back, and she definitely couldn't help it when they found his ass and squeezed. 

_Yep, perfect._

Eventually, they both rattled loose. Leon's motions became quick and unpredictable, an edge of desperation hanging on each thrust, trying to get deeper and deeper. Ada was nosier than she could ever remember being, her fingertips digging into the skin at his back and leaving behind perfect red welts. She bit the lobe of his ear and his neck, and he kissed her, messy and thoughtless. 

It was a surprisingly thorough fuck. 

"Ah!" Her voice was drained and throaty. "Leon, I'm going to--" 

He didn't seem to mind, pushing in at a surprising new angle that caused her to come, another helplessly extended moan escaping her as she dug in and arched against him. Eventually, she lost her voice, her breath catching near painfully in her throat as her head rolled back onto the pillow and her vision went white, and then black. 

It didn't take him much longer, what with her tightening and pulling around him. 

"Fuck!" Was the expletive he chose, pushing deep inside of her. 

She felt him come, moving with him, enjoying the feel of his entire body tensing in one great movement before he became total jelly. 

They both did.

❤

When it had been Redfield, she had wanted him to get out as soon as it was over with. But with Leon, it was oh-so-easy to lay there with him. They were pressed up against each other, her head resting on his arm, listening to the sound of his heart rate return to normal.

"Wow," He breathed out, shifting so that they were even closer to each other. 

"Wow," Ada replied, her throat feeling gritty. 

She was sure everyone down the hallway had heard them. 

For once, she found, she didn't care. 

It started to rain. She could hear the Colonel, in the kitchen, eating his food. He had probably taken respite in the living room after all of the activity. 

She could hear the sound of it pattering against the window, on the roof. 

The sound of Leon's heartbeat was comforting. He was warm, his skin felt nice against hers. She drowsed. 

Her fingertips found the scar, tracing the ridges of it again. 

"Where did this come from?" She asked, her voice quieter than she realized. 

Leon's fingertips found hers, tracing patterns along her hand as she traced patterns along him. 

"Accident," He replied. 

"With a knife?" 

"I guess it's no good to hide stuff from you," She could hear the smile in his voice, even though she couldn't see him. "It was my dad," He admitted. 

"Your dad did this to you?" 

"Yeah, when I was young." 

"Was he trying to kill you?" 

"Maybe he was," Leon said. "But he couldn't do it." 

"I'm glad," She was surprised at herself. Oops. 

Leon shifted, helping her put her head on the pillow. They were facing each other. The only light source was the moon, streaking in from Ada's open blinds. In the low light, he looked young, and Ada reached up, tracing her fingertips along the tip of his nose and the rosebud of his mouth. 

"What about you?" 

She felt him trace the rounded, puckered scar on her hip. She had been lucky it hadn't shattered her hip. 

"Arklay Mountains," She replied. "Jose shot me." 

Everyone knew who Jose was now. He had been abducting young girls and marrying them, creating a weird, unsettling sister-wives situation. He might have gone unnoticed, if he hadn't started killing them. 

"I was lucky," She said. "He was fond of chainsaws." 

Leon laughed, his voice husky and quiet. 

"What?" She asked. 

"Only you, Ada Wong." 

He kissed her. It was easy, now. It felt natural. 

"Hmm," She sighed out, into his mouth. 

And, God help her, they did it again.

❤


	17. Letters

☣

Ada was warm.

It had been a long time since she woke up with someone beside her, but there he was, sprawled out on his stomach with the blanket draped over the small of his back. He had a very nice back. She traced the ridges of his shoulder blades, fingertips sliding down to rest just above his perfect ass. 

Ada felt uneasy. 

Why was this so easy? 

She sat up, leaning down to brush a few kisses along his warm shoulder blades. 

He shifted in his sleep, but he didn't wake up. She slid out of the bed, looking at the disarray they had left behind in their haste the night before. There were clothes everywhere. Ada slid into a long silk robe she had that had been her mothers. She began retrieving clothing, folding it up and setting it aside. 

She picked up Leon's pants, folding them up and setting them at the edge of the bed. She felt the urge to go through his wallet, the curiosity sparking a bit. She ignored it, leaving it where it was. 

It was another first for Ada Wong. 

She fed the cat, who had gone into hiding but came barreling out as soon as he heard the food clinking on the bowl. 

"You're such a fat ass," She said, giving his small head a pat before she poured herself a glass of water and leaned her back against the counter. 

She looked at the time. It was a little after six am, and the sunlight was coming in wan and pale through the drawn blinds. Ada knew that the night was depleting quickly, and the real world would come flooding in. Still, for a moment, she was just peaceful in her kitchen. 

Ada was interrupted from her moment of peace when she saw Leon come out of the bedroom, his wheat colored hair ruffled from sleep, stark naked. She smiled, unable to help herself. 

"Forget where you are?" She asked, and his eyes found her. 

"No," He said, sleep obvious in his tone. 

Ada took a drink of water and set the empty cup aside. She watched him come towards her, eyeing him. He kissed her, letting it linger for a few moments before he pulled back. 

"I'm starving," He said. 

"You're barking up the wrong tree, kid," She smiled, pouring him a glass of water, watching as he chugged it down in three gulps. 

"I thought we agreed you weren't going to call me that anymore." 

"Why? Does it bother you?" 

He reached out for her, grasping the silk of the tie on her robe and watching as it fell open. His hands slid along her naked waist, encompassing the bare skin. He kissed her, pulling her close abruptly. He nipped her lower lip, just a bit, teeth dragging along the flesh. 

He reached around, grabbing her ass and pulling her against him. Ada thought they were on the freeway to going at it a third time around until her phone started ringing. 

"Shit," She muttered as Leon pulled away. 

It made her feel better that he looked frustrated, too. 

She tied her robe again and went after it, looking to see that it was Burton. 

"Wong," He said, as she answered the phone. "You'd better get in, there was another body found." 

"Damn," she muttered, her voice pitching up an octave and breaking. She had the feeling of being caught out. "Okay, I'm on my way." 

"You alright, Wong? You sound off." 

"I'm fine, Barry," She said. "I'll be in ASAP," She was happy that her voice sounded more controlled. 

"We'd better get something to go," Ada said as she came back out into her living room. "They found another body."

☣

She and Leon took a shower together. It was difficult to focus. They worked well together, even in the shower, handing off soap and shampoo and eventually toothbrushes. After it was done, he crept back across the hallway and got dressed, Ada taking the moment of alone time to do the same.

They made a good team. 

They stopped at the coffee cart, where Ada had to ignore Carlos inevitable posturing when he sensed that something more than coworkers might have been going on between Leon and her. They ate fast, out of pastry bags, and drank down coffee in an attempt to brace themselves for what was to come. 

They ended up in the hills. It was a break from what Ada had gotten used to. The rich people kept to the hills, at least to the south of the city. They hadn't even had time to stop at the station before Ada had gotten the location. 

Leon had gotten dressed in his uniform - a force of habit, she supposed. 

Ada was definitely surprised when they pulled up in front of another huge house. This one was different from Ashley Graham's house. She thought she recognized it. It had been there for awhile. 

"This is the Spencer Mansion," She said. 

"It's just as ominous as I remember it being." 

"You've been here before?" 

"Yeah, once. Field trip." 

Ada watched as Leon looked up at the looming house. It had a history, from being used as a quarter for soldiers in the war to suicides to it's last stand as a care house for the criminally insane. The historical society had finally made a bid to preserve it, allowing it to continue standing as some sort of bizarre museum for all of the strife it had seen. 

There were cops everywhere. 

"Detective," One of them said, coming up to her. 

"What happened?" She asked, pulling her sunglasses off and following him inside. 

"She was found in one of the bedrooms," He began, leading them in the direction of the crime scene. "They're processing it now." 

It was a familiar scene. Naked girl. Strangulation marks. Ada noticed something different, right away. She was wearing a small charm necklace. She saw a familiar face. 

"Birkin," She sighed. "Fancy meeting you here. When did she die?" 

"Wong. And...Kennedy," He said, trying to recall the name. "She's been dead less than eight hours, is my guess. It's fairly similar, otherwise."

"Sir," Kennedy replied, evenly. She thought she could sense a bit of sarcasm in his tone. 

"Anything new?" Ada asked. 

"The necklace," Birkin pointed out. "I'll let you know more when I know it." He was about to be on his way when he seemed to recall something. "Oh, my wife wanted me to give this to you." 

It was a small piece of paper. On it, there was a PO Box. It took Ada a few minutes to work it out, until she recalled her recent visit to the ER. It must have been the address that the girl she'd seen had put down. 

"It's a PO Box," Leon pointed out. "Maybe we can station someone at the post office for a few days and see if she shows up." 

"I'll talk to Barry about it, but he's been stingy about this case." 

"Maybe he won't be now. This is clearly going to get worse." 

"Clearly." 

She handed the piece of paper to him. Their hands lingered together for a moment too long.

☣

"Are there cameras?" Ada asked, looking at the Spencer Museum curator, Rebecca.

"There are, but they may have been turned off last night." 

"Why?" Ada asked. 

"Because there was an event. Fundraising, for the nearby high school. They're trying to get rid of the arts and sciences programs." 

"Were you here?" 

"No," Rebecca admitted, adjusting her glasses. 

"I need to see a list of the guests." 

"I'm not sure I'm able to provide that. It was a private event." 

"Look, I can get a subpoena or you can just give me the list." 

"Please," Leon said, smiling at her in his way. 

Rebecca Chambers sighed. She then nodded her head and went to retrieve what Ada had asked for. 

"I think you'd better see this, Detective," One of the techs who had been processing the scene had a letter in hand. 

"It's addressed to you." 

"Can I have a pair of gloves?" 

She carefully cut open the letter. The room was so quiet she thought she could hear Leon breathing. For a brief moment, she remembered the sound of his heartbeat. She forced herself to focus. She pulled out a slip of paper. On it, in blocky, smooth hand: 

**I SEE YOU, DETECTIVE WONG.**

Great, a decidedly ominous message in a decidedly ominous mansion. 

The letter was taken from her. They dusted it for prints, but there was nothing. They would take it back to the lab for a more thorough pass over, to see if anything had been left behind unknowingly. Whoever had left it had been smart enough to wear gloves, so Ada wasn't hopeful. 

Rebecca Chambers had given them the list of guests. She said it probably wasn't complete, as those who RSVP'd might not have shown up, and those that did might have shown up with unknown plus ones. Ada asked her to call her superior and ask about the cameras. She left her card behind. 

She didn't recognize any of the names on the list. It would have been too easy if Wesker's was on it. 

She knew Chambers would call, if only because she liked the look of Kennedy. 

_Ha, who didn't?_

Ada was trying to ignore the fact that she'd happily wrapped her legs around him and ridden him like a carousel the night before. 

She hadn't had time to feel the usual regret, or maybe she was trying to avoid it entirely. 

If she was being totally honest with herself, she wanted to do it again. 

And now, it seemed, their favorite serial killer was trying to play a game of cat and mouse with her. Why had they left her a message? Was it just because she was the one working the case? 

Ada had to get over to the other venues to see if she could get a list of guests for the other events. Leon went with her. 

He was quiet. Deathly quiet. 

"What's wrong with you?" She asked, digging around for a hard candy. He handed her one. 

"I don't like this," He admitted. 

"The note?" Ada asked. "Don't worry, it wouldn't be the first time a killer tried to play cat and mouse with the cops." 

"But what about Barney? What if this person keeps sending people for you?" 

"You think Barney had something to do with this?" 

"Only because the umbrella symbol keeps popping up." 

"Are you worried about me?" She asked. 

"Of course I am, Detective." He looked at her, his hand placed idly against his features. 

She forced back a smile. 

"Don't be," She replied. "It'll be alright." 

But, she wasn't sure she believed her confident words.

☣

The civic center was a pain in the ass. Ada had to get loud, and a bit bitchy for them to listen to her. They were able to give her a list of recent conferences, but they weren't able to give her a list of the attendees.

"You do realize, you had people register for these events," Ada pointed out.

"I realize that, detective, but we don't usually keep a log of who attends." 

"What about the speakers?" 

"They're usually volunteers." 

"Nothing? Nothing to track that at all?" 

"I'll look, but it might take me a couple days." 

"Okay, well I can't stand here for a couple days," Ada said. "So, can I believe you when you say that?" 

"Yes, you can."

"I promise you I will come back and I will stand here all day if you break your promise--" Ada looked at her name tag. "Delores." 

"Oh gee," She replied, sarcastically. "How nice of you. I promise, detective. If I never have to see you again, it will be too soon." 

Hm, Ada wasn't really feeling the love. 

Leon jumped in. 

"Thank you, really." 

However, she didn't seem impressed with Leon Kennedy's blue eyes and dimpled chin. She rolled her eyes and then rolled away from them. 

They walked out of the civic center. 

"So you think Albert Wesker has something to do with this?" 

"I don't know." She replied. "But this is the closest building where an event of a similar nature as the other was held. And if he was on the guest list, or a speaker here, that's a hell of a coincidence." 

"This one is a bit of a stretch," Leon said. "She was found across the way and down the street." 

"Yeah, you're right, but I just have a feeling." 

"It's the best we've got for now, I guess," Leon admitted.

☣

Ada still had to deal with the Graham case.

Luis hadn't had gunshot powder on his hands or person when they had initially processed him, which meant that he probably wasn't the person who had fired the gun on his wife. Ada had a feeling he had had something to do with it, though, or he probably wouldn't have wound up dead himself. 

The shell casings were from a rare, automatic gun that wasn't sold in the country, which meant that whoever owned it had purchased it illegally or had come by it by some other means. Still, when they got back to the station, Ada requested that they pull a list of weapons that might have been registered to anyone in Ashley's circle. 

If it was an illegal weapon, then she doubted it would be. 

Ada lost track of the time, as she often did when she was working. She was pulled away from her desk work when she heard her cell phone chirp. She swiped it open, and saw it was a text from Kennedy, who was sitting at his desk. 

She smirked, privately. 

**Want me to feed the cat?**

**Why?**

**Because it's almost midnight.**

She looked over her shoulder at Leon, who was trying not to look at her. 

**Okay, fine.** She tapped out the door code and hit send. 

**Be careful on your walk home.**

It was the quietest way Ada could think of to tell someone you cared about them. 

Ada worked for another hour before she realized what time it was. For some reason, she was excited to get home. 

She didn't even stop at the store. 

She punched the code in the door when she found herself in front of her apartment. She smiled when she saw Leon sitting on the couch. 

Her smile dropped when she saw what was in his hands. 

That damned letter. 

"How did you get this?" He asked.

☣


	18. Kid

  


☣

Leon Kennedy had been through a lot in the past few weeks.

He'd been assigned to an understaffed precinct, he'd walked a beat, and he'd made a few friends. 

He had found a body on his first night on the job. 

And then, there was Ada. 

Detective Ada Wong. 

He had read about Ada before he had finished his time at the academy. He had read about her fantastic track record in solving cases, her drive, her relentless investigating techniques. He had kept up with the Arklay Mountain case almost obsessively, not because...he realized, he was interested in the case, but because he was interested in Ada Wong. 

It was tough not to be. She was gorgeous and confident. She was smart, and as he would come to find out, funny. 

Leon hadn't expected to be so entirely drawn to her. She tried to put him off, a few times. She snapped and she growled, but every time he pushed back, she made it clear that what she really wanted was the connection that they had. 

He hadn't expected anything from her. It started out just wanting to be around her, whenever he could. 

When she had kissed him, it had been a total surprise. 

When he had kissed her, he hadn't been expecting it of himself. 

He just knew he was tired of her derisively calling him 'kid'. He felt her, the real Ada Wong, just beneath the surface, when he kissed her. 

He was sure that it was a lot of bravado. 

When they slept together, he was convinced of it. 

The first time had been a silent scramble to get each other naked and on top of each other as quickly as possible. 

The second time had been different. She had asked him about the scar that his dad had given him. He had told her. He had wanted to tell her more, but instead he'd kissed her. 

It was slow, sweet, and lingering. It was the type of thing that Leon would spend the rest of his life remembering. She had rolled on top of him, kissing his mouth, and his neck. Her lips traced along the scar, and his collar bone. When he had reached to push her hair out of her face, she had grasped his hand and pressed a kiss to the palm. 

It was a different Ada Wong than the one he had gotten to know, the one that teased him relentlessly. She was soft and sweet. 

They had slipped together, melted together, really. It was slow, both of them working to try and draw it out together. 

He had come first, groaning and gasping, enjoying the way she looked pleased at his pleasure. 

He hadn't expected to fall in love with Ada Wong. 

He didn't expect that she would fall in love with him. He wasn't convinced she had. He was prepared to continue on, even if it felt one-sided. 

But in moments like those ones, he didn't think it was so one-sided. 

He guessed he shouldn't have been surprised that she had gone digging through his trash, and taken out a letter from his father that he had never intended anyone to see. What made it worse was that he had been wanting to tell her, he just hadn't known how to. 

He had heard things about Ada Wong. He had heard that she went through partners like candy. That she was a cold-hearted bitch, that she slept around. Leon didn't care about any of those things. He was determined to make up his own mind about her. 

And, he thought he had. 

That night, he'd walked home alone. Ada wanted to work, and he'd offered to feed her cat. He'd become fond of the Colonel, even though his personality was a bit like his owners. The more Leon was around him, the more he trusted him, however. 

He hadn't been able to find the new bag of food. He'd gone digging through the closet when her overnight bag had fallen out from the top of the linen closet, face down on the floor. When he picked it up a letter slipped out. 

Leon would have ignored it, but he couldn't ignore the handwriting. 

It was handwriting he had seen a million times before. 

Leon never opened the letters. He knew where they were from, he knew what they said. Somehow, his father always found out where he was, though. A small threat. I always know where you are, kid. 

**Kid.**

This letter was opened. 

Leon put two and two together. He might have looked stupid (as everyone in his new position was intent on pointing out), but he knew that Ada had somehow found this letter and taken it. She'd read it. There was no need to tell her what his father had done, because she already knew. 

It felt like a violation of trust. 

God, he had wanted to trust her. 

He found the cat food hiding behind some sundries. He fed the cat, because he had said he would. 

He sat down on her couch. He lost track of time, but it couldn't have been more than an hour. He heard the door pad beeping and saw her come through the door. 

She was smiling. More than he'd ever seen her smile, really. 

Smirking, sure, but not smiling. 

Her smile melted away when she saw what was in his hand. 

"How did you get this?" He asked. 

Ada shut the door behind her, quietly. 

"I found it in your trashcan, the night the cat knocked it over," She replied. 

"And you just decided to take it?" He asked, trying to keep mastery over his tone, and failing miserably. 

"Leon," She said, coming closer. "I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't have," She was genuine. 

"I would have told if you had asked, Ada. I guess you're a detective, first and forever." 

"I was curious about you," She admitted. "I didn't know how to ask," Her voice was so quiet. 

"Yeah," He stood up. "Well, now you know. My deep, dirty secret. Were you ever going to tell me you knew?" 

"Leon, it's all over the internet. I would have googled you eventually." 

"Or, you could have let me tell you, when I was ready to tell you." 

"Damn it," She said, a quiet curse. "This is why sleeping with your partners is a terrible idea." 

"This isn't about the fact that we're partners, Detective."

"Wait a minute, when did I become Detective again?" 

"I'm going," Leon was mad. He couldn't have explained why he was mad. 

"Leon, I'm sorry," She tried again. Her voice had an edge of desperation. 

"I know you are," He said. 

In that moment, it didn't change anything. He stood up, and balled the letter up in his hand. He reached out for her hand, and placed the crumpled up letter in the palm of her hand. 

"I didn't tell anyone, Leon." 

"You should have told me."

☣

Leon left Ada's apartment. She tried again, calling after him. Her voice was terse, quiet. He didn't respond, quickly unlocking the door to his apartment and shutting it behind him. He locked it.

He heard a soft knock on the door. 

"Leon, please," Ada said, her voice cracking. "Let's talk about this," Ada Wong wanted to talk. 

He didn't reply to her, moving away from the door. 

He heard her eventually return to her own apartment. 

He took his gun off. He checked his phone, finding that he had a missed call from Claire. He ignored it, plugging it into the charger and putting it on silent. He was exhausted. 

He undressed, down to his underwear, and stood in front of the mirror examining the scar tissue that his dad had bestowed on him. He tried not to remember that night, though it crept up on him in odd ways at odd times. 

His father was not his father. He was someone totally separate of him. 

Leon Kennedy would never be like him. 

He fell asleep, face first, in his sheets.

☣

The Graham case was gaining traction. They had found that she had been followed the day she went into the super-store, from watching the CCTVs. No one recognized who was following her because the image was so bad, but they had been able to get a decent view of the vehicle he'd been driving, and a partial license plate.

They had pulled all the weapons registered to Graham's father, and surprisingly, they had a match on the weapon that had shot Luis. 

They were still at sort of a dead end with Ashley, but Ada seemed to think that the father had probably had something to do with both murders. 

Ada had redoubled her efforts on the serial murders. She was hardly home, and a week had gone by. Leon tried to avoid her, but sometimes they were forced to work together. They were still partners. Leon wondered about asking if he could be reassigned, but he definitely would have been stupid to give up such a chance. 

_Besides,_ A small voice at the back of his head told him. You said you'd help protect her. 

Ada Wong probably didn't need protection. 

Leon tried to put distance between them. It was more difficult than he thought it would be. 

It had been a week, and already it felt like a small eternity. 

"Hey Kennedy," He looked up to the familiar voice, seeing Ada standing in front of his desk. 

"Hey," He replied, leaning back in his seat. 

He still felt a bit vulnerable without his cop uniform. Detectives weren't required to wear them. 

"I need you to go through these and see if any phone numbers stick out to you," She said. "If you don't mind." She had been a bit kinder since he had found the letter. "For the Graham case. These are daddy's phone records." 

"Alrighty," He replied, in as chipper as a fashion as he could. 

"I've got us booked for one of Wesker's talks, next week," She continued. "The historical society is having another event tomorrow night. I got us an invite. Do you have a suit?" 

"You really think the killer is going to go back to that mansion again?" He asked. 

"It's possible," She replied. "I think we can go and see if anything strikes us as odd. They still haven't been able to tell us anything about the cameras or the guest list that night." 

"How'd you get the invite?" 

"I told them I was a historian with a lot of money," She smirked. 

"Won't the curator recognize you?" 

"No, probably not," She looked unsure. "If you don't want to go--" 

"No, no. I'll go. It's my duty." 

"Right," She said, disappointed, clearly. 

The bruising ache in his chest that had begun a little over a week ago grew. 

Ada slowly turned away from his desk and walked back to hers. He couldn't help but watch her go. 

He hated to admit it to himself, but he missed her. 

Redfield, without Leon noticing, had leaned up against his desk. 

"Don't feel bad, Kennedy," He had heard the whole, awkward interaction. "You're just another in a long line of people she's burned." 

"Get off of my desk, Redfield."

☣


	19. Officer Down

☠

Ada was trying to make a list of the bullet points of what she had found out so far.

\- Possibly a John?  
\- Piss yellow eyes.  
\- Albert Wesker.  
\- The science of living forever.  
\- The Spencer Mansion. 

They were all still spaced too far apart to make any real connections. She then tried to make a mental list of all the things she had yet to do. 

Keep pulling arrest records. Call Birkin. Follow up with the police officer posted at the post office box. Talk to Leon about the phone records for the Graham case. 

_Leon._

-Survive this night without breaking down into uncontrollable sobs. 

It had yet to happen, but every time she saw Kennedy, she felt the distance grow between them. It was like a crevasse, inching them farther and farther apart. She wanted to jump across it, but the more she waited, the more she was afraid it was too late. 

_What was the big deal, anyway? It isn't like you haven't slept with someone and it hasn't worked out before._

That was, in fact, 100% of her relationships so far. 

So why couldn't she just let it go? 

"You alright?" The hair dresser asked, leaning into her. 

"I'm fine, thanks," she replied. 

"You're quiet," he pointed out. 

"Yeah, sorry." 

"What are we doing today?" he said as he toyed with the ends of her hair. 

"Can you find a way to put it up? I know it's short, but I have an event." 

"Sure, I can do something." 

He managed to slick it back in a fashion that made it look dressy. He pinned a sparkling pin in it, and Ada tilted her head to look at it. It was pretty. Maybe a bit girly, for her, but it would do for the night. She was supposed to be someone else. 

It sounded nice, being anyone else. 

They did her make-up, too. She had bought a deep, red colored dress that was made out of silk that resembled water. It hung low on her back, revealing it fully. The front of it cut low, too, and she was going to have to tape it down to her breasts with double sided tape. It was long, but it had a slit all the way up to her thigh. She thought to pair it with a pair of sharp, pointy black pumps that had a strap at the ankle. The whole outfit was decidedly very Ada Wong. 

When her red lips and cat-eye were done, she took a cab back to the apartment. Leon hadn't been excited about this. She wasn't either, really, but she was hopeful that they might be able to find something that would further their path closer to the killer. 

Ada paused in front of Leon's door, but she thought better of it and went into her own apartment. 

She had an hour or so before the car would come and take them to the decidedly off putting Spencer mansion. With Leon. 

He had never told her if he had a suit or not. 

She fed the cat. She checked her phone, swiping through her e-mails. 

When the time came, she got dressed. She put on a long, harness type necklace that swooped around her. It glittered all the way down her chest and back, the rest of it hidden beneath the dress. She put a small amount of perfume on, something that smelled vaguely of spice and vanilla. She put on a pair of diamond, stud earrings, thinking that the necklace did enough of the work that she didn't have to go overboard with her earrings. 

She pulled out the nicest jacket she had, a wool coat in the style of a trench coat that she could tie at the waist. She bent down and put the heels on, gathering items into her small clutch bag. She sneaked a few others into the pockets of her coat, just in case. 

Ada checked the time on her phone. Leon wasn't there. 

She finally got brave and went across the hallway. A ring that gave the appearance of a bar glittered at her knuckles. She knocked. 

_You should have told me._

Yes, Ada Wong, you should have. 

She stood back as the door opened. She had full view of him, even though he wasn't looking at her. He was wearing a blue suit, dark navy in color. He looked good in it. He'd gotten his hair trimmed and it fell nicely around his face. She saw shined dress shoes, peeking out from the perfect hem of the slacks. 

A look of surprise crossed his features as he looked at her. It was a crack in the stony facade he had adopted in the last couple weeks. Polite, unfailingly polite. She didn't like it. She wanted Leon back. Maybe it was selfish of her to want such things, but she did. 

"You look nice," she said, smiling. 

"You look beautiful," he muttered, seemingly unhappy to admit to it. In his face, the same awe he'd had the night he'd undressed her. 

"Thanks," she replied. "Should we go? Car is here." 

"I'm ready."

☠

They sat in the back of the car, still silent. Surprisingly, it was Leon who broke the silence.

"What's our goal, tonight?" 

"I want to talk to people. See if anyone knows about these killings, or brings them up. I think we might be able to get into some of the rooms. Maybe we can find something." 

"Okay, sure. And if we do?" 

"Just keep your eyes and ears open, Kennedy." 

"Yes ma'am." 

That was another new, fun habit he'd picked back up. He did it - probably because he knew it bothered her. 

Ada didn't say anything, even though she wanted to. 

She found herself looking at him often, trying to see if he was looking at her. He seemed very intent on looking everywhere but her. 

She was glad when they pulled up in front of the Spencer mansion, even though it looked even weirder at night. The lights were positioned on the house, giving it an eerie sort of yellow glow. Leon sighed. 

"I hate this place." he said. 

"Yeah, me too." 

There was just something about it. 

They both got out of the car. The driver would be back in a couple of hours. Ada hoped they wouldn't have to be here much longer than that, but it depended on what they found. 

Surprisingly, Leon offered his arm to her. She took it, finding that the contact with him made her feel a bit more at ease. 

_Great, Ada. You ruined this thing that might have been the one thing you actually wanted._

They were stopped at the door. Ada was forced to pull out the invite and hand it over to the museum bouncer. 

"This invite is for one," he said. 

"This is my husband, Leonard Williams." 

"And you are?" 

"Adaline Williams. I can't believe you don't know who I am. I have more money than God." Ada tried not to sound too sarcastic, but it was tough. 

"Alright ma'am. I guess I'll let it slide." The man motioned for them to enter. 

"Oh, great, what a concession." Ada affected the snobbiest tone she could muster up. 

Her hand tightened on Leon's arm. Probably to solidify the lie, he reached over and touched her hand with his. Warm, dry, and steady. 

It sometimes felt like nothing ruffled him, but then she remembered the emotion his voice the night he'd found his dad's letter. 

They were lead down a hallway, which opened up into a grander hallway. It was lit with that same, gold light. Ada took note of all the doors. She took note of all of the expensive paintings and statues. She wondered what was behind each door. 

They followed a clump of guests into a dining room. The table had been taken away, leaving the large room empty and open. There were tables set up around the circumference of the room, tables that had h'ors d'oeuvres on them. Ada saw the bar. She very strongly wanted a drink, but she realized that she needed to keep her wits about her. They were both putting up a front, and neither of them had their cop uniforms or badges on display to help them in case they got into a jam. 

There were groups of people, migrating and mingling. Ada tried to see if there was anyone she recognized, or conversely, anyone that would recognize her. She was glad to find that she didn't see anyone, but she knew she couldn't let herself relax completely. 

She felt tense. 

Leon leaned in, and whispered in her ear, "do you want a drink?" 

She really, really did. 

"No, but if you want one I'll be here," she replied. 

His breath tickled her ear lobe. It was a wash of warmth. 

"Okay," he said, letting go of her arm. 

Even when he hated her, he was still such a gentleman. 

Ada gave a sigh as she watched him push past other guests in pursuit of the bar. 

She turned away from the sight of his ass in his perfectly tailored pants, and focused instead on the guests. 

_God, kissing goodbye to his ass might be the worst part of all of this._

The first part of the evening was a total bore. Nothing important was said by anyone, and Ada was pretty sure she was going to go into a coma. At some point, she got a glass of wine and tossed it back, breaking her own rule about this event. Still, she told herself, one glass wouldn't make her drunk. Leon had a beer, but she didn't see him partake after that. She had a hard time not thinking about his tongue, tasting vaguely of hops. 

Ada was about to give up on the whole stupid idea when someone mentioned 'The Wesker Foundation'. 

Both she and Leon heard it, their proverbial ears perking up in unison at it. 

Ada was surprised that it was so obvious. 

"Since the Wesker foundation was so kind to fund this event, we have to give them thanks. They provided all of the items you'll see here tonight at the auction!" 

There was a round of applause. 

Leon looked at her, carefully. 

"Since you're better at this," Ada said to him. "Ask around, see what you can find out." 

"You're just leaving me here?" 

"Aw, come on, Kennedy. Make that perfect ass work for you." It slipped out, auto pilot for the Ada Wong that he had gotten to know before things had gotten awkward. 

She saw the ghost of a smile on his face. 

"I'm going upstairs. Call me if anything gets weird."

☠

Ada had to pretend she was drunk, and that she was going to blow chunks, to throw a particularly interested couple off of her scent. She found a way to quietly get up stairs, though she was sure there was more than one staircase.

A lot of the doors were locked. She didn't know what she was expecting, but she realized this might have been a fruitless endeavor, until she remembered one of the items she'd thrown in her coat. She crept back downstairs, glad to find that the couple who had been so interested in her before had wandered off. She found the coat room, and quietly dug around in the pocket of her own coat, as if she were stealing something from someone else. 

Ada hadn't always been a cop. She had spent a good part of her youth shop lifting and doing things she shouldn't have been doing. Barry being a cop had eventually put her off of those said unsavory actions, but Ada never forgot her first lock picked. 

This would take more time than she had. She had to pick and choose. There was one large, ornate door that stood, looming, at the end of the hallway. Ada thought it looked important, but when she saw the lock on it she realized that this was not a lock she could pick with what she brought. So, she chose one of the doors next to it. 

She tried to work fast. She didn't know if someone would come up here and find her, but the hallway was dark. She had to believe that the guests probably weren't supposed to be up here. The lock gave eventually, and she was able to get inside of the room. Disappointed, she found it was a bedroom. A dusty bedroom that smelled a bit of decay. A bedroom left to mold as the passage of time made it useless. 

No one lived in this house anymore. 

It was unlikely that anyone would, ever again. 

She picked another door. 

Perhaps it was luck, but this one happened to be a study. Ada quietly shut the door behind her. There were all manner of books lining the walls, placed perfectly in mahogany shelves. She looked at some of the titles, her brow dropping curiously as she realized she didn't recognize any of them. These were not detective novels. A good deal of them looked old, and some of the spines were in languages she didn't recognize. 

There was one in Chinese: A Spiritualists Guide to Extending Life. 

Ada had an ominous sense of deja-vu. 

She focused in on the desk. It was a large desk, and it had a few drawers. She began trying the drawers. One of them yielded, but there wasn't anything inside of it besides paperclips and other office items. The others were locked. Ada leaned down to look at them. She used force, yanking until she pulled the drawers free with a snap, leaving the small metal knob that turned downward warped. Whoever came in here would know that someone had been responsible for this. 

Ada did her best to wipe her prints away from the desk. 

She could only imagine trying to explain that to Barry. 

Ada began looking through the papers contained therein. There were symbols, many of which she didn't recognize. There were reports in other languages. It was nothing obvious, nothing that stood out at her as a smoking gun. Still, she began folding what she could and shoving the pages into her small clutch. 

Maybe it would be nothing. Maybe it would be something. 

Ada began to feel as if she wasn't alone in the room. She heard something shift, a bare change in the air that anyone else might not have noticed. She turned, abruptly, her breath catching in her throat as she saw a dark figure coalesce into reality from behind one of the bookshelves. 

Slight figure. Mask of some kind. Maybe a little taller than she was. Ada couldn't see their eyes. She was desperately trying to make out if they had a weapon or not. She saw when the long line of their arms came out that they did. A gun. A small gun, but a gun that would do a lot of damage, nevertheless. 

"Who are you?" 

Ada scrambled for her own weapon, which was currently strapped to her thigh beneath a ridiculous dress. She held it up, finding that the person had disappeared. 

When they reappeared again, it was behind her. 

Ada quickly spun around, firing off a haphazard shot that noisily landed in the bookcase. 

"Shit." 

She knew she was going to have to pay for that. 

"Welcome, Detective. Have to admit, I never thought you would be inducted this way." 

The voice was muffled. Pitched down. Even with all of that, Ada could tell that the person she was currently facing off was a woman. 

"Show your face," she said, pointing her gun up. 

"No thank you, detective." 

The woman came after her, as quickly as a predator and probably just as gracefully. Ada managed to dodge her, knocking a few books out of their place. They thundered to the floor. Every noise felt like the loudest noise in the world, especially in such a quiet place. 

"Give me back the papers, and I won't kill you." The woman said. 

"No thank you, creeper." she replied, sending her fist out in an attempt to knock her assailant out. 

She dodged. 

The movement made her angry, though, and she came after Ada with a renewed ferocity. She knocked her back against the bookshelf. Ada hit her head, and she tried to keep her wits about her as the woman railed down on her with a fury of hits. 

She was trying to get at Ada's clutch. Ada held onto it for dear life, more convinced that it was worth her life if the woman was this intent on getting it back. 

What happened next happened in slow motion. 

The door opened, and a male voice shouted her name. Ada looked, though with the dark there wasn't much to see. Ada held onto her clutch. The woman turned, taking aim with her small, near invisible gun. Ada heard the pop of a gun shot. It was loud, and Ada turned away from it. She heard the projectile find it's target, plummeting through flesh, muscle and blood. 

The target grunted, and fell. 

There was a commotion. And, before she ran, piss yellow eyes.

Suddenly, Ada didn't have a weight atop her. Whoever had fired the gun had gotten spooked. She had run. 

Ada got up. 

The flesh, muscle and blood had been Leon. 

"Shit!" She shouted. "Leon." 

She quickly scrambled her way over to him. Jesus, there was so much blood. She pulled his shirt back, looking at the dire black gunshot wound that had sunk itself into his shoulder. She tried to tell herself it was too far away to have hit his heart. 

He was bleeding, so much. 

"Leon," she breathed out. 

"Go after them," he groaned. 

Pain. Ada could almost see the fuzz of red blood, taste the copper of it still hanging in the air. 

Ada considered it. For a brief moment, she did. 

She ripped the fabric of his jacket, pressing it against the wound. She scrambled to find her phone. She dialed 9-1-1. 

"Officer down," she breathed out. "Send help to the Spencer Mansion." 

_Jesus fucking Christ, Kennedy. You can't die._

☠


	20. Blurred Lines

☣

Waiting for the emergency service felt like an eternity. Leon struggled.

She applied pressure to the wound, trying to keep him alert and focused on her. She had this feeling that if she just kept him awake, he would be okay. 

"Leon," she said, each time he tried to drift off. "Tell me your favorite memory." 

Ada had dealt with gunshot wounds. She was trying to remember what had kept her alive, besides a steely will not to let Luis get the best of her. 

She held his hand. He was cold. She was trying to keep him from going into shock. 

He gripped her hand. 

"My favorite memory --" he groaned. "Shit." 

"I know, it hurts." Ada gripped his hand back. "Your favorite memory." 

"Ada," he said. "I'm mad as hell at you." 

"I know," she replied. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have taken that letter." 

"Next time you like someone," he paused. "Don't go through their garbage." 

She wanted to say: _what do you mean, next time?_

Had Leon already made up his mind to move on? Or was he worried about dying? 

"Don't talk like that. You're going to be alright." 

"If I'm not --" 

He didn't get a chance to finish. They had drawn attention, and Ada could hear one of the docents directing the EMT's upstairs to the emergency. Ada wasn't thinking about how she was going to try and talk herself out of this one. 

Ada was forced to let go of his hand and watch as they did their jobs, hoisting him up and getting him down the stairs and into the ambulance. 

"Which hospital?" Ada shouted. 

"Raccoon North," The EMT said before he shut the door behind him, cutting Ada out completely. 

Ada was covered in Leon's blood. The group that had gathered dissipated, and the cops showed up. 

Ada kept looking at her hands, rusty red. Leon's blood. 

She turned to see Burton getting out of the police cruiser. 

"Jesus fuck, Wong. What have you done now?"

☣

She had to tell Barry that Leon had been shot, and she knew she had fucked up, and she was very sorry, but they should probably get to the hospital.

Burton agreed, once he realized that it was Leon's blood all over her. He swung his sport coat over her shoulders, and he took her to the hospital. In the car, he gave her an awkward bear hug. She had only ever received a few in her lifetime. Usually when she was holding onto her composure by a thread. Barry just seemed to know. 

Ada had gotten Leon shot. 

It was just piling up for her. 

And, she'd lost the woman who had shot him. 

For once, though, she felt like her priorities had been straight. 

"Ada," Barry said, drawing her out of her thoughts. "Tell me what happened." 

"How did you know to come here?" She asked, swiping at her face, trying to get her flyaway hairs out of her eyes. 

She wasn't crying. 

"You must've given your badge number at some point," he said. 

She wasn't sure where to start. 

"There's this name that keeps popping up in the case with the prostitutes." Ada said. "Wesker. He talks about the--" 

"The science of living forever?" 

"Yeah. How did you know?" 

"I've met Albert Wesker." Barry said. "Weird guy." 

"So, I was trying to get lists of all of the people who attended his talks. I was trying to confirm if there was a repeat name, or if maybe he was in the area those nights when the bodies were dumped. We came tonight because--" 

"Because this was where the last body was found. Have to say, they had the place up and running again pretty fast." 

"Why wouldn't they? It's the creepiest place in the city." She sniffed. 

"Okay, so what happened next?" 

She recognized that tone. He was treating her like a witness. For the first time, it dawned on her that she was. She had witnessed Leon Kennedy get shot. Or at least, she knew she had. Barry didn't. 

Did he think she shot Leon? 

Ada knew better than to start with the denials. She continued on with her story as calmly as she could. 

"We came here. I scored an invite from one of my contacts. We pretended we were married. The night was pretty uneventful until they mentioned that Albert Wesker had funded the auction." 

"Of course he did." 

"How do you know him?" 

"A story for another time," he replied. "Go on." 

Ada told Burton what had happened. She gave him the hallmarks of what she remembered about the woman. The color of her eyes, her strangely deep voice. Ada hadn't seen any distinctive features except for her eyes before she'd shot Leon. 

She looked out of the window and realized they were at the hospital. 

She wondered if Barry was treating her like a witness, or if he was trying to distract her. It was hard to tell when he was her boss and her adoptive dad. 

They went in. Ada had a nurse ask her if she was hurt, and she was forced to explain that it wasn't her blood. 

Why hadn't the woman shot her, too? 

Ada remembered that she had been trying to hold onto her clutch. She looked in it, disappointed to find that somehow the mysterious woman had gotten the papers back. 

What had been on them? 

"We're here for Leon Kennedy." Burton said to the charge nurse. 

She began poking around on her computer. 

"He's in surgery," she said. 

She stood up, pointing out the path to take on the map. 

"Sixth floor. Just follow the blue arrows to the waiting room." 

"Thanks." Burton said. 

They followed her instructions. The hospital was cold, and Ada was under dressed. She had left her coat as the mansion. She drew Barry's coat around her as tightly as she could, but it smelled vaguely of whiskey and cigarette smoke. 

She guessed Barry was having a tougher time quitting. 

They were forced to sit in the waiting room. They were told that they would be alerted when they could see him. They sat for a long time. Barry drowsed. Ada shivered. Blood was uncomfortable as it dried. 

"Hey. Why don't you go home and get a shower and change. I'll wait here," he said. 

"I can't leave." Ada said. 

_This is my fault._

"Ada. You're freezing, and covered in blood. It's been a couple hours already." 

"No." 

"Fine," Barry sighed. "I'll go. What's the code on your door?" 

"I'll text it to you."

☣

Ada waited. People came in and out. It got later, and later. She began to worry that something was wrong. She kept checking her phone, wondering where Barry was.

Ada had this bad feeling. The letter that had been left behind at the previous crime scene made it obvious that whoever this person was, they knew who she was. A face off meant that she was on their trail. She knew it brought the ante up. She had a feeling the stalking activity was going to tick up now that she'd been so brazen. She was alone in a hospital waiting room, half naked and without a gun. 

"Miss Wong?" She heard the nurse say. "You can see Mr Kennedy, now. He's in room 6002. Just follow the hallway." 

"Thank you. Did you see the man I was with earlier?" 

"Yes." 

"Can you tell him?" 

"Yes." 

Ada had a feeling she was being so kind because she knew they were cops. And Leon? Well, as far as Ada knew, he didn't have any family. 

Ada slowly made her way down the hallway. It was dark, a few halogen lights lighting up various empty stations and corners of the hospital. Ada didn't like hospitals. She didn't like seeing empty stations. Weren't these people supposed to be here, all of the time? Didn't someone have to watch, and make sure that no one died? 

Her high heels echoed loudly on the hallway. She looked in a room with an open door, seeing a jaundiced yellow man sleeping as if he were staying in a five star hotel. 

Ada found his room with relative ease. He was bandaged, in a hospital gown, with a bunch of cords hooked up to him. He was resting peacefully. His color was wan, but even in this state he looked a bit like what Ada imagined angels looked like. 

"Detective Wong." 

Ada turned around, startled. She was out of it. She was relieved to see Dr. Birkin standing there. 

"You're everywhere these days, doc." 

"This is where I usually am." Birkin had a clipboard in hand and was looking through the document pinned to it. "Your partner, I assume? I thought he looked familiar." 

"Yes." she said, her voice cracking. 

"You know, we don't usually let non family members back here, but Detective Burton informed me that he doesn't have any." 

"Sorry, doc." 

"You look like hell. That your blood, or his?" 

"His." 

Ada tried to clear her throat. 

"Is he going to be alright?" She found herself asking. 

"Luckily, it was a clean in and out. It didn't hit anything super vital. He's young, so my guess is he'll recover pretty quickly. He lost a lot of blood, but we've got him stabilized. He'll sleep now, for awhile. Why don't you go home and get changed?" 

"Are there visiting hours you have to enforce?" 

"Not up here, no. But Detective--" 

"I'll stay. Am I allowed to wash up in the bathroom?" 

"Do I have a choice?" Birkin asked. 

"Not really." 

"Then, yes, you're allowed to wash up in the bathroom." 

"Thanks, doc." 

"Do you want me to have them bring a cot in?" 

"That'd be great, thanks." 

"Alright." 

When Ada looked back, she was gone. Doctors were never in one place for too long. 

Ada pulled a chair up to the side of his bed. She examined all of the bits and bobs they had him hooked up to, trying to work out their meaning with her very limited knowledge of medicine. Ada didn't deal too much with the living, only the dead. 

"I'm sorry, Kennedy." She said, even though she knew he couldn't hear her. 

She watched his face, trying to remember the exact color of his eyes. Finally, she reached out and slid her hand along his features, as if creating a sort of memory map for herself. She was sure she would never forget touching his face in the cold chill of a hospital room. 

Just like she would never forget the way he kissed her. 

_Shit._

Ada Wong had been having trouble sleeping. She didn't see it as getting any better soon.

Barry showed up. He smelled like whiskey. He had brought her what he could scrounge up. She could see on his face that going through her underwear drawer hadn't been the most comfortable experience for him. Ada watched him pull a chair up near the window and drowse. She took the moment of silence to go into the brightly lit bathroom and wash up as best as she could. 

The sink was pink with blood by the time she was done. She had tried to clean up after herself as best she could. 

Barry had gone for comfort over style, bringing her a pair of sweats that were gathered at the ankles and a size too big for her. She generally only wore them when she was sick, but she could imagine him going for the easiest and least sexy thing he could find. He had done much the same with the shirt, bringing her an old band shirt that she'd worn to death in high school. 

The Raccoonteurs. 

She pulled it on over her head, doing her best to brush her hair out of her face. She was thankful to find he had brought a good deal of her toiletries, and she took a minute to brush her teeth. 

She pulled the heavy sweater he'd brought on. 

When she came out, she found him snoozing away. She carefully folded up his sport coat and put in next to him. 

They both slept. Ada couldn't help it. Her adrenaline had tanked. She was freezing, and hungry. She fell asleep simply because her body shut down. 

When she woke up, it was because the glaring light of the sun poured in through the window that faced full east. She squinted and held her forearm over her eyes, trying to give them time to adjust. 

"Miss?" She heard someone ask. "I'll bring him something to eat. Do you want something?" 

"It's alright, I'll go down to the cafeteria." 

"Alright." 

Ada found that Barry was gone. He'd taken his sport coat with him and left behind a note, his scrawl almost as bad as a doctors. 

**Posted an officer at the door. Call me if you need anything.**

"Ada." 

She turned to find Leon smiling at her. He grimaced as he tried to move, remembering that he'd taken a bullet to the shoulder just a few hours before. 

"Hey," she said, quickly moving back to the bedside. 

Without thinking, she grabbed his hand. Like always, it was warm and dry. 

"What happened?" 

"You got shot k--" she stopped herself. "Sorry, force of habit." 

"It's alright." He chuckled, lightly. His voice was raspy. "Did you catch the shooter?" 

"No." 

"You should have." 

"And leave you there to bleed out? No thanks. I would have never lived it down." 

Leon smiled, just a bit. 

"I'm going to have another scar," he said. 

What was she supposed to tell him? _It's alright babe, you're gorgeous enough for most women to overlook it_? 

It felt weird saying that kind of stuff to him, especially now. 

Her hand tightened on his. 

They were distracted as the hospital food was brought up. Birkin stopped by, and then a nurse. They gave him more medication. She realized her time with him was limited. He was probably going to fall asleep again. 

"This stuff is truly awful." To prove his point, he stabbed his fork in a particularly gelatinous mound of cottage cheese. 

"Not if you're starving." Ada said around her mouthfuls of Jello that she had taken from him. 

"Stealing food from the sick, Wong? I'll have to add it to the list." 

"Shut up," she laughed, finishing the Jello. 

Once he had declared he was finished, Ada leaned up to pull his tray away. There was a moment when their eyes caught, and Ada felt herself leaning in. Magnet. Her eyes closed for just a brief moment, until she felt him pull away. 

_Oh._

"I think--" he began. "that maybe you were right. Maybe we shouldn't blur the line between partners." 

Ada wasn't sure what she was expecting. Maybe she had been expecting it, but she wasn't expecting it was going to sting so much.

"Oh, right. Of course," she leaned back, abruptly. "Well, I'll just gather my stuff and head home. I'll be back later, I just want to get a shower and get something to eat. I'm...really glad you're going to be alright. There's an officer posted..." 

She was blabbering. She felt like a teenage girl. She'd just been rejected by a boy she liked. It sucked just as much as it did in high school. 

She went to get her belongings out of the bathroom. 

"Ada." 

She headed for the door, trying to keep her features schooled. 

"Ada--" He tried again. "God damn it." She heard him mutter under his breath. 

She was already out of the door. She paused a minute to speak with the officer who had been posted at the door, before she quickly made her way to the elevator. 

Ada Wong knew what she wanted. 

Too bad it was too little, too late.

☣


	21. Whiskey and Suspensions

☣

It had been a long time since Ada Wong had found a reason to cry.

But, as she made her way out of the hospital, she couldn't help it when tears started streaking down her cheeks. She hated crying. 

It was too late for regrets, she had taken the letter from him, she had snooped. There was nothing she could do to change it. 

She couldn't say she blamed Leon. If he had done the same thing to her, she would have been upset. It was a definite crossing of boundaries that she shouldn't have crossed. 

She wondered if Leon would ask to be reassigned. 

As she wiped the tears away from her cheeks, she resolved to expect it. 

Ada Wong did what she normally did, though. She decided she had other, more important things to focus on. She wasn't going to let her heart pains over Leon distract her from the fact that there was most certainly a killer on the loose. 

And, she had another case to solve. 

Ada was good at a few things, and one of them was avoiding her problems. 

She caught a cab home. The Colonel came running to the door the minute he heard the beeping on the keypad. Ada glanced around her apartment. She considered just falling into bed and sleeping for fourteen hours. No one would've blamed her, but she was sure that she wouldn't have been able to sleep. 

Ada was not surprised to find that Barry had fed the cat. He meowed angrily, though, seeming upset that she hadn't been home. She gave him exactly two and a half pets before he got agitated and scrambled off. 

Neurotic cat. She guessed they were two peas in a pod now. 

She pulled the red silk dress out of the overnight bag she'd stuffed it into. It was unlikely she was going to get the blood out of it. She tossed it in the trash, happy to let it go. She had no real desire to remember the night as it was. 

She put her phone on the charger, not surprised to find that exactly no one had called. 

Ada took a long, hot shower. She had aches and pains she hadn't realized she had. She had blisters on her heels from spending the whole night in stilettos. She had a few bruises, probably from her struggle with her attacker. She washed her hair, and when she was done, she got dressed in a practical outfit for working in. 

She chucked the heels in the trash too. The patent had been scratched off of the heels with all of the activity. 

Ada didn't have any food. She was happy to strap her shoulder holster back on and slide her gun into it. It made her feel a little safer. She shrugged into her coat and headed back out, intent on getting back into the office to tie up some loose ends. 

Ada had a feeling she was probably going to have to answer for some things. 

She walked. She decided to stop at the coffee cart. Carlos was busy with his usual hustle, but his face sort of lit up when he saw her. 

"Hey Detective," he said. "What'll you have?" 

"The usual." 

"Sounds good." 

He made her coffee and handed her a muffin. Ada handed him cash, prepared to continue on her way. She lingered, pausing to look at him. He was a good looking guy. He had a head of hair that probably made a lot of women (and men) jealous. 

"Hey Carlos," she began. "Does your offer for a date still stand?" 

"Well I must say I'm surprised." The smirk on his face was a bit smug. 

"Alright, don't leave a girl hanging." 

"Yes ma'am, it does."

☣

When Ada walked into the station, an uneasy silence settled in the place.

Ada guessed she should have known better. She couldn't just walk in there and expect that everything would be business as usual. 

"Hey Wong," Redfield said. "No one was expecting to see you back so soon." 

Ada ignored him as well as she could. It didn't take long for Burton to notice she was there and seek her out. 

"Ada, I've got to see you in my office." 

"Yes sir." 

She barely got a chance to sit down before she was up again, headed into his office. She watched as he closed the slatted blinds, making sure that they were free from prying eyes. Ada finally had the good sense to have a bad feeling about this meeting. 

"You're okay to take some time off," Barry said. 

"I don't need time off." 

Barry sighed. 

"Alright, Ada," he began. "You, in the last twenty-four hours, crashed an event without telling me of your intention to crash an event for a case that isn't particularly high up on your roster of cases. You," he paused, looking at his file. "Picked locks. Tried to steal items from the mansion. And, to top it all off, got your partner shot." 

"I'm aware, Barry. What's your point?" 

"My point is, breaking and entering is not legal. Anything you would have found would have been useless in court."

"I know that." 

"So, what exactly were you hoping to accomplish, here?" 

"I wanted to find something to point me in the right direction." 

"Right," he said, sighing and drinking a out of a mug of coffee that was probably cold by now. "Ada, I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to suspend you." 

"What?" Ada exclaimed, surprised. 

"Yep," he leaned back in his chair. "I'm sorry, kid, but the only way I can stop the owners of the Spencer Mansion from pressing charges is by assuring them that the appropriate disciplinary actions are taken. And, you're going to have to go to a hearing, with the board." 

"Barry, whoever this is is going to keep killing prostitutes. It might escalate to higher profile women. It may not be high on your list of priorities, but I fully believe this is a serial killer. You can't just suspend me." 

"I have to, kid." 

"How long?" 

"Thirty days, at the least. It depends on when the hearing is set. You'll have to see a psychologist. If they clear you to come back after that, you can come back after that." 

"And if they don't?" 

"I'm not sure. Suspension could be indefinite." 

"Great. Fucking great." 

Ada stood up. She put her gun on his desk, and tossed her badge on top of it. 

"You might be sorry about this, Burton." 

"I already am, Wong." 

"What about the Graham case?" 

"It's been reassigned." 

"Right, of course." She frowned. "And Kennedy?" 

"Kennedy is going to be out for at least that amount of time. If everything goes well--" 

"I think you should reassign him." 

Ada left his office. She kept her head held high, trying to avoid the pitiable and sometimes angry glares of the other officers in the station. She realized that she was as good as mud to them. Nearly getting another cop killed was almost as bad as killing them yourself. 

She was sure if the Spencer Mansion wasn't involved, discipline wouldn't have been so swift. 

Money talks.

☣

For the second time that day, Ada felt like she was going to cry. She didn't.

She wasn't sure where to go. She wandered, a bit aimlessly. She felt like she might as well have been walking down the street naked and it wouldn't have mattered. 

Her first thought was to get a drink. 

She looked at her watch. It was just past 2pm. 

She had told Leon she would go back to the hospital, but she realized he probably didn't want to see her. Burton would probably tell him in short order, that Ada was suspended and that he would be reassigned to another detective. Or, maybe back on his beat. 

Ada had always gotten the feeling that Burton thought Leon was the best candidate for her partner. He was young, and a bit naive, and maybe his drive made it easier for him to overlook Ada's defects as a partner. 

Ada looked at her watch again. 

She ducked into Biohazard.

☣

Ada lost track of time. Her date with Carlos wasn't until the next night. She was regretting even asking him.

She didn't like Carlos, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to follow through with it. 

Didn't meaningless sex help with having a broken heart? 

_No, Ada Wong, it doesn't._

The voice that streaked across her head sounded a lot like Leon's. 

She drank a lot of whiskey. 

At some point the sky got dark and the bar got busier. She had a higher tolerance than most people, but after a certain point Ada Wong was just drunk. 

The bartender gave her a hint by sliding a bowl of peanuts and a glass of ice water in her way. 

"Are you trying to make me a more hydrated drunk?" she slurred. 

"I'll call you a cab, if you want, Detective." 

"Don't call me that." 

Ada stretched her arm out and rested her head on it. She hadn't been that drunk in quite a long time. 

The bartender left her alone for the moment, but Ada knew that he would call her a cab if her dramatics went on for too long. 

She closed her eyes. She just wanted a quick cat nap, and then she would slide full scale back into being an addict. She would walk home, buy a pack of cigarettes, smoke them all in a short period of time, and maybe, just maybe, she would feel a bit better. 

She didn't know how long she had her eyes closed before she felt someone nudging her. She opened them to find herself staring into Claire Redfield's concerned face. 

Great, now she had an audience to her misery. 

"Detective? Are you alright? You've been laying here for a long time." 

"I'm fine," she slurred. "I was just about to leave." 

Ada threw a wad of cash on the bar top. She got down from the stool. The ground came out from underneath her and she stumbled. 

Claire caught her. 

"Can I call you a cab?" 

"No, I'll walk." 

When Ada got into the cold air, it was bracing, but it was not bracing enough to undo the fact that she'd just drank her weight in whiskey. 

She guessed she shouldn't have been surprised when Claire followed her out into the street, sticking close to her. 

"I'm fine, really." 

"All the same, I'd like to walk you home." 

"It's okay, Redfield. You don't have to take pity on me." 

"Leon said you were like this." 

"What?" 

"That you have a hard time accepting help." 

"What does he know?" 

"I'm sorry, Detective. Please let me make sure you get home okay?" 

"Fine." 

They walked in silence. Ada tried not to lean too heavily on her, but Raccoon City was spinning around her. Or she was spinning in Raccoon City. It was hard to tell at this point. 

"I'm sorry that you got suspended." Claire said. 

"Me too." 

"I went and saw Leon. He was asking for you. He said you told him you'd go back." 

Ada didn't say anything. 

"Listen, I know it's none of my business, but he really cares about you." Claire said after the long silence stretched out. 

"You're right, it is none of your business," she replied. "I'm here." 

"Are you going to be okay?" Claire asked. 

She looked so openly concerned. In her drunken state, Ada realized Claire had just wanted to be friends. 

Friends, ha. 

"I'll be fine. Thank you." 

Ada stumbled to her apartment. She almost locked herself out of it, trying to remain upright and punch the key code in. 

She looked at her phone. 

3 missed calls from Barry. 

1 missed call and a voicemail from a number she didn't recognize. 

She hit the voicemail button and put it up to her ear. 

It was Leon. 

**Ada, I heard about the suspension. I'm sorry. I don't think it's your fault I got shot. Please call, when you can. I'm the one in the hospital but I'm concerned about you--**

Ada could hear the teasing in his tone. 

She deleted it, and fell face first into her mattress. 

It had been a very bad day to be Ada Wong. 

☣


	22. Hits

☣

Leon decided, in a short period of time, that he hated hospitals.

They came by every four hours and gave him pain killers which made him groggy and upside down. He didn't like not having a clear head, and he had never slept so much in his life. 

Ada had been there. She had stayed with him until he had woken up. And then, he had told her that he wanted to keep it strictly professional and she had disappeared. 

He didn't think he really wanted to keep it strictly professional, but he felt unsure of her. He felt unsure of himself. He thought about their night together, more than was probably healthy. He wanted to kiss her again. He did know he was angry with her. He was angry with her for taking the letter his dad had sent him. He was angry with her for reading it. 

Some small part of him was flattered that she had been interested enough to do so. 

She hadn't answered the phone, or called him back. 

His shoulder hurt like hell. He kept trying to remember the details that he could about the night prior. He tried to remember the person who shot him. He really wanted to talk to Ada about it. He kept thinking about her in that red dress. 

He balled up his fist and punched it down into the bed. Why did this have to be so damned difficult? 

She didn't answer the phone when he called. Claire had told him she'd been suspended, and Burton had plans of reassigning him, or assigning him back to the beat. Claire wasn't much for gossip, but it was going around the office that Ada had told Burton to reassign him. 

Leon messed with the bed. He raised it up, and lowered it. Then, he did it again. 

"Don't you have someone who could have brought you something to entertain you?" It was Dr. Birkin. 

"I guess they didn't think about it." 

"It's been a day. I see a lot of flowers, but no Sudoku books. Your friends must be pretty thoughtless." 

"Guess so," he smirked. 

"Well, lets have a look." 

She checked everything. She did the same song and dance that she had been doing over the past few days. 

"When can I leave?" he always asked. 

"You're healing up pretty fast," she replied. "I think you'll be good to go in a week or so." 

"Good." 

"Must be torture." 

"The TV doesn't work and I don't have any Sudoku, so...yeah." 

"I'll bring you some Sudoku." Birkin said. "The nurse will be in to give you your meds." 

"Thanks, doc." 

Leon had meals brought to him at the same time every day. Sometimes, they wheeled him around in a wheel chair. He hoped they would let him walk in a few days. He glanced up, finding that Claire was coming in through the open door. 

"Hey Leon," she said, chipper as always. 

"Hey Claire," he sighed. "I'm glad to see you. This is torture." 

"I had to stay in the hospital for a week when I had pneumonia as a kid. I remember how terrible it was." 

"I hate asking, but would you mind bringing me something to do?" 

"Sure, Leon. I'm sorry, I didn't think about it." 

"It's okay. How's Jake?" 

"He's good," she looked around conspiratorially. "I brought you a sandwich from the deli." 

"You're an angel." 

"Oh, stop." 

Claire pulled the tray down and set the sandwich on it. Meatball sub, Leon could smell. He was starving. Hospital food came from a land unknown. A hellish land, full of weird substances. 

He unrolled the sub. His shoulder gave him a shock, reminding him that he'd taken a bullet only a few days earlier. He took a big bite out of it. It was basically like a cold drink of water after wandering in the desert for forty days. 

He ate it quickly. Probably quickly enough to make himself sick. It was better than the hardly ripe melons and the flavorless, wobbly cottage cheese. 

Boiled salmon, and broccoli that was often a color broccoli should never be. 

"Have you heard from Detective Wong?" Claire asked, after he'd finished. 

He paused in his motion of gulping down his water. 

"No." He shook his head. "Have you?" 

"I saw her last night at Biohazard. She was really drunk. I walked her home." 

"Was she okay?" 

"I don't know. She was upset, I think." 

"Yeah, I can imagine she would be." 

He was thoughtful. 

"Leon, I'm sure she's alright." 

"Can you do me a favor?" 

"What?" 

"Can you go to her place? I would go, but I'm obviously indisposed." 

"Leon, I don't think she likes me very much." Claire looked uncomfortable. 

"She gives that impression to everyone she meets." 

"Yeah, well, it works." 

"Uh, hi." 

Leon looked up to find Ada standing there. She was wearing her dark glasses. Nary a hair was out of place. Her lips were painted a vague, stained shade of red. She was dressed in her trench coat. Leon could see her stocking clad legs, and the shiny pumps she often wore. 

When she perched her sunglasses on top of her head, Leon could see how the dark circles underneath her eyes had grown, despite her attempts to cover them with make up. 

"Ada," Claire said, surprised. "Wow, I didn't know you were coming." 

"Sorry to interrupt. Somehow, I ended up with your things, Leon." 

Leon could see the cell phone in her hand. It was his cell phone. It looked like it was more than dead. 

"How'd that happen?" 

"I don't know? You probably handed it to me to shove into my purse. You look good. Glad to see you're doing well." 

He also saw that she had magazines. And books. She had brought him something to do. 

"I was just about to go." Claire said, standing up. 

"Oh, don't let me scare you off." Ada replied. "I'm just here for a second." 

"No, no, it's alright. Stay." Claire offered her chair. 

Ada stepped forward. It was awkward. She was more resigned than Leon had ever seen her, as if she wasn't sure what to do with herself. He couldn't say he blamed her, she'd just had the entire rug ripped right out from underneath her. 

Claire got up and waved at him, smiling a bit before she disappeared into the hallway. 

"Thanks for the sandwich," he called after her. 

Ada carefully came forward and set his phone at the table that was nailed into the side of the wall. Right next to his water glass. She set the books and the magazines down. 

"Keep you entertained for awhile," she said. 

"Thanks. Birkin was just giving me shit cause I didn't have anything." 

"Yeah, well, she'll do that." 

"I heard about you getting suspended. I'm sorry," he said. 

"Everyone short of the pope heard about it. It's alright, Kennedy. It's not your fault. Maybe now you can find a partner that isn't such a problem child." Ada smirked. 

"What?" He asked. 

"Burton hasn't told you? I guess he wanted me to do it. They're reassigning you." 

"I heard." Leon replied. "But...is it true you told him to do it?" 

"Yup." No punches pulled. 

"Why?" 

"You can't be this stupid." Ada said. 

"What?" 

"Shit, Kennedy. I'm in love with you." 

It felt like someone had socked him in the chest. He didn't know what to say. 

"And I've been suspended. I have to see a shrink. I have to go to a hearing about my mental acuity. I've fucked up and up and up since we started getting involved. And girls are getting killed. It was stupid of me to drag you to the Spencer house and risk your reputation as well as mine. And I almost got you killed." 

Leon must've looked shocked. It was a lot to take in at once. 

"Ada--" he choked out. "You didn't almost get me killed. You couldn't have known that was going to be the outcome of that." 

"Thanks for that refreshing point of view, but I don't think that's how anyone else sees it. And I have to catch whoever is doing this. Maybe now I can do it without all of the red tape." 

"What are you talking about?" 

"Nevermind, Kennedy. You don't want to be accomplice." 

She was smiling, but he had a feeling she wasn't feeling very happy. 

"Ada, I--" 

"You don't have to say anything, Kennedy. You were right. It was a mistake to get involved." 

"No it wasn't," he said, flatly. "That isn't what I meant." 

"What did you mean, then?" 

"Ada, you did something that was really out of line," he felt like he was pleading with her. "I think I was well within my rights to be upset about it." 

"I never said you weren't." 

He was having a hard time reading her expression. 

"Do you really still think what happened was a mistake?" he finally asked. 

Ada looked taken aback by the question. 

"No, I don't." 

Leon tilted his head. 

"Come here," he said. 

Ada looked conflicted. 

"I've got to go," she finally said. 

"No you don't." 

"I have a date," she said, her voice quiet. 

Man, he was just taking the hits.

☣


	23. Hangover

☣

Ada Wong was hungover.

She had, sometime in the night, crawled into her bathroom to puke and seek refuge on the cold chill of the tile floor. She woke up with a groan, shifting her arms out from underneath her and using them to push herself up. She thought she might throw up again, but after pausing for a moment, she decided she was okay. 

She looked towards the door, finding that The Colonel was laying half in the bathroom, half in the bedroom, his tail flicking curiously behind him. His face indicated that he was wondering what the hell she was doing laying on the bathroom floor, a place she didn't typically sleep. 

Her head was throbbing fiercely. She reached up, rubbing her temples in an attempt to get the pain to abate. She needed aspirin. She needed alka-seltzer. She needed to brush her teeth. 

"Ugh," she muttered, running her tongue along her teeth. 

They felt grimy. 

The cat ran, thundering down the hallway and into the kitchen. Figures. The only reason he was ever interested in her was when he was hungry for something. She paused over the sink, looking at herself in the mirror. 

"Jesus Christ," she said, pushing her hair out of her face. 

There was a tile imprint on her face. 

She turned the light on. It stung, causing her to go blind for a few moments. She squinted, and looked again. There were dark circles underneath her eyes. She splashed cold water on her face. It didn't make the dark circles go away, but it made her feel just a bit better for a small minute. She brushed her teeth. She brushed them for too long, but it took her a long time to get the whiskey grime off of her teeth. She gargled mouthwash and spat it out, rinsing it all down. 

The Colonel meowed, loudly. 

"I hear you, I hear you," she mumbled. 

Ada pulled her robe on, somehow having ended up in her underwear. She seemed to recall squirming out of her clothing after she'd puked in the bathroom, feeling like there was too much of it to be wearing while feeling so awful. 

She groaned, loudly. 

_Good job, Wong._

She fed the cat. When she bent down, she felt her headache become more apparent, probably from the blood rush. She groaned again, scaring the Colonel, but not enough to put him off of his food. 

Ada had a plan. She had gone over the edge. She had hit rock bottom. And now, she was going to get her shit together. It was too late to do anything about her job, but she knew that amazing feats could be accomplished from the comfort of one's own home. She could be an armchair detective, though she doubted it would stay like that. Nothing about arm chairs caught her attention. 

First, she had to see Leon. She realized that she still had his cell phone, somehow. 

Vague memories of him handing it to her surfaced. 

She showered and got dressed.

☣

When Ada walked out of Leon's hospital room, she was surprised with herself. She hadn't been expecting to tell Leon that she loved him, but she did. Of course, he hadn't said anything back. He had been confounded, obviously, but Ada was trying to convince herself that this was for the best. It was for the best that they both moved on.

Ada had it in her mind that what was done was done. It was time to get back to work. 

But, she couldn't stop thinking of how he'd looked when she had told him she had a date. 

She was sure Albert Wesker had something to do with the killings, but she was presented with the fact that their attacker had been a woman. 

Was it possible he was working with others? 

Ada tried to think of the connections. The science of living forever. The yellow eyes. The puncture wounds. The umbrella. Ada realized the resources she had were limited now, but that didn't mean that Birkin might not talk to her. 

She went down to the basement. 

Usually, Birkin was waiting for her, but he wasn't expecting her now. This place really was ominous. The lights were motion sensor, and flickered on as she walked down the hallway. Her shoes felt even more noisy than they had upstairs. 

She heard him behind her. 

"You look like shit," he said. "And you aren't supposed to be here. Burton told me to keep an eye out for you." 

"Thanks, Birkin. Charming as ever. Did he?" 

"He did. He knows you pretty well. He figured you would show up eventually. I should have bet him money that it would be sooner rather than later." 

"So, you going to kick me out or tell me what's going on with the latest girl?" 

"I should kick you out. But I'm not one to get involved in police power struggles." He smiled. 

Ada had a feeling he wanted to help her just because it was going to piss Barry off. 

"We processed her a few days ago, the family came and claimed her." 

"The family?" 

"Oh yes," he said. "Come in here and I'll give you the information I can give you." 

They made their way into his office. He sat down, digging around in his files.

"Her name was Maria DeSouza." He began. "She was twenty-three. We identified her with dental records. She was declared a missing person eight years ago. It was assumed she was a runaway, though looking at her, I'm pretty sure she as abducted, and kept." 

"Kept? Like a dog?" 

"Yeah. She had a lack of growth. There was damage to her body that suggested she was lying prone in the same position for long periods of time." 

"So it's different from the others," she replied. 

"Somewhat, yes. But, she had puncture wounds. She had the tattoo. Her levels were elevated. Maybe she was fighting an infection, but if she was being abused, that wouldn't be too totally surprising. She had the ligature marks, like the others." 

"Addicted?" 

"She had G in her system. They might have been using it to keep her docile." 

"Do you think that's what killed her?" 

"No. I think what killed her was whatever raised her levels." 

"Thanks, Birkin." 

"Any time, Detective." 

"Not anymore," she sing-songed as she left. 

She heard Birkin laugh. 

_Not anymore._

☣

Ada worked her magic at the civic center. She got lucky in that the person at the desk was of the male persuasion, and she was able to get a list of the recent speakers and attendees at the center. She wasn't exactly surprised that Wesker had been there during the time frame that the body had been dumped.

And she already knew he had been there for the third body dump. She wasn't sure about the first, or the last. 

Was it enough?

Ada was forced to stop at an actual grocery store. She wasn't going to be out, as much, anymore. She bought food, a rather novel thing for her. She got the cat food, too. She even bought him a few treats. She was trying to ignore the ache in her chest and the different type of ache in her head. 

She had an odd feeling on her way home that she was being followed. When she looked around her, she couldn't see that anyone stood out. She knew better than to brush it off. 

She felt a bit better when she remembered she had a personal firearm at home. 

She bought street tacos and tried to ignore her growing feelings of unease. 

When she got home, she did the rather domestic thing of putting her food away. Her fridge was so empty she was sure a moth came out when she opened it. She gave The Colonel a cat treat. 

After thinking about it, she checked all of the dark spaces where someone might hide. The apartment was empty. 

Ada pulled her laptop open and began doing her research. She started with public arrest records. She was looking to see if Albert Wesker had ever been arrested. The response was about as empty as her fridge. There was nothing. Then, she got the idea to see if she could just search for the last name. 

There were a few hits, surprisingly. 

Alex Wesker. Female. Ada realized she was lucky that these records hadn't been sealed, as she would have needed her now revoked access to get to them.

One arrest was for arson. She set a small fire. Another was for shoplifting, a fairly common arrest for girls of her age. It was then that Ada recognized the name of the arresting officer on the records, both times. Barry Burton. Another search confirmed her suspicion that Alex Wesker was related to Albert. She was his sister. 

_I've met him._

It was back when he was a police officer, back before Ada's parents had died. 

Ada's phone alarm went off.

☣

Ada got dressed in the smallest black dress she had. She put on dark hose that attached to garters, and a pair of tall, extremely tall high heels. She did her make-up, painting her lips her favorite shade of red. It was definitely the outfit she chose when she wanted to make an impression.

She put on a small bit of her favorite perfume. 

Her phone pinged. 

**I'm here.**

It was Carlos. 

Ada grabbed her coat and pulled it on. She tied the belt at the waist and quickly made her way downstairs. She saw Carlos waiting in front of the building. His dark hair shined in the low light. He looked good in a suit. She realized she had only ever seen him slinging coffee, so it was odd to see him dressed up. 

"You clean up well," she said as she went out into the night air. 

"So do you." He leaned in and kissed her cheek. "Do you like Italian?" 

"Italian sounds fine." 

They got in a cab he hailed and before long, were off. 

Ada was having trouble not thinking of what she'd found. Barry had been the arresting officer. Did it mean anything? 

Ada was surprised when they were dropped off in front of an expensive restaurant. It was one she'd passed by a few times, but never eaten in. She didn't really believe in spending thirty plus dollars for pasta, but maybe Carlos was aiming to impress. 

Looking at him, she realized he probably was. 

"I'm surprised, Carlos," she said as he held the door open for her. 

"Why? Just because I'm a coffee cart owner doesn't mean I can't afford this place." 

"I don't know, just always sort of pegged you as a cheeseburger sort of guy." 

"I can't take you to a cheeseburger joint when you went through so much trouble to look so nice." 

"It wasn't that much trouble." Ada smirked. She could hear recognize an attempt at flirting when she heard one. 

The host took her coat. They were seated. Carlos even pulled out her chair for her. 

Quite the gentleman. 

Ada had been on dates with men like Carlos before. Men who did their absolute most on the first few dates to look like prince charming. She could already tell she probably wouldn't agree to see him again. 

"What made you change your mind?" he asked. 

She looked up from a menu full of things she would have trouble pronouncing and realized he was watching her. 

"Um," she began. "I found myself with more free time than I used to have." 

It was a vague answer. She wasn't about to share with him all of the gory details of her life. Who would? She did consider it might have been a good way to send him running, though. 

"Second thought, huh?" 

"Not exactly." 

Ada's phone rang. She pulled it out, surprised to find that it was Leon calling. She silenced it and put it back in her bag. Carlos looked at her, his jaw setting just a bit. 

"You can take it," he said. 

"It's nothing," she replied. 

They ordered. Ada ordered something that had seafood in it, while Carlos stuck to the more traditional choice of spaghetti and meatballs. He ordered the wine for her, reassuring her that it was good wine. Like Ada would really know the difference between bad wine and good wine, but she was thankful for the drink. 

Hair of the dog, and all. 

Ada drank one glass and stopped herself, even though Carlos just kept talking. He talked about himself, a lot. Ada really wished she hadn't gone so overboard the night before. 

She kept thinking about Leon. 

How would Leon act if it was him sitting across from her, and not Carlos? 

When the food came, Carlos kept talking. Ada finished eating much quicker than he did, because he was talking so much. 

They ended up taking a lot of the food with them. 

Carlos paid for everything, even though Ada offered to split it with him. 

The car ride back to her place was remarkably quiet. When they pulled up in front of her apartment building, Ada found herself asking: 

"Do you want to come up?"

☣


	24. Albert Wesker

  


☣

Carlos had a different way of kissing. They had both had a shot of whiskey before he'd kissed her, leaving the shot glasses empty on her kitchen counter. As if they were both trying to bolster themselves up for what they were obviously about to do. He was a push and pull sort of kisser, overwhelming her by way of his mouth and attacking her until she was breathless. She felt raw and bruised each time he pulled away.

He wasn't a bad kisser, but he was no Leon Kennedy. 

His mouth wasn't sweet, like Leon's, even after he'd had a few beers. He looked at her like she was beautiful, sure, but he didn't look at her like she was the only woman in the world. He pawed at her with all the intensity of a bear going after fish. He ripped one of her stockings in his haste to get it off of her. 

She recalled the last time she had done this being hasty, but not like this. 

Leon just kept freewheeling across her brain. 

The more she tried to tamp him down, the more he came up. 

She felt Carlos' mouth find it's way to her neck, the 5 o'clock whiskers on his chin tickling her skin. She tilted her head, giving him more access to it. She didn't realize how tense she was, how like a cold fish. He backed her up, both of them fumbling with the door of her bedroom. She felt herself pushed back against her own bed. 

Ada didn't care, she realized. She just wanted the oblivion of it. 

So it was surprising when, after having pushed her down on her bed, Carlos pulled back. 

He was looking at her in the dark light of the bedroom, confused and maybe concerned. 

"Ada," he said. 

She opened her eyes, turning to look at him. 

"You're not into this, are you?" 

She lifted her forearm a bit, sliding it over her face. 

"Why do you say that?" 

"Just a feeling I get," he said, moving off of her. 

"I'm sorry, Carlos." 

Ada sat up, pulling her dress down. 

"You're into someone else, aren't you?" 

"Uh--" she dragged it out. "Yeah, I guess I am." 

He sat on the bed and pulled his hands back through his dark hair, heaving out a sigh. 

"It's alright. I kind of figured something was off when you suddenly changed your mind." 

"Most guys would just take advantage and fuck me," she said, smirking a bit. 

"Well, I like to believe I'm not most guys." His face indicated that he was angry. Maybe disappointed. 

Made sense. She had used him and then insinuated he was going to use her back. 

"I'm sorry. It was a joke." 

Leon would have laughed.

"I'm gonna go," he replied, exasperated. "If you ever get over whoever it is, call me." 

"I'm sorry," she said, staying put on her bed until she heard him open the door. 

She waited to hear the lock beep behind him, indicating the door was now locked. 

Ada Wong was alone again.

☣

Maria DeSouza had disappeared when she was fifteen years old. It had taken her parents a year to report her as a missing person. Looking at what she could find online, a few interviews her parents had done pleading for their daughter to come home, she found that it she had run away a few times.

 _She always came home for the holidays._ Her father had said. _When Christmas passed, we realized that something was wrong._

Her home life hadn't been great. There had been some reports of sexual assault on the father's end, but no police reports had ever been filed. Her mother had had suspicions about her daughter selling sex. The cops had probably assumed she'd run off with a boyfriend, or a pimp. Ada couldn't find any arrest records for her. 

She was missing her access to the files, just about then. She scoured the internet for anything she could find, but missing persons' cases were frustrating. Ada knew it was like chasing ghosts, especially when there wasn't a body. 

But now, there was one. 

The news had yet to break that she'd been found, but Ada was sure it would be all over the internet the next morning. 

How she had been killed? How long she'd been alive after she had disappeared? Ada wondered if Barry would tell them they suspected a serial killer. 

Probably not. 

She leaned back into her lumpy couch. She had stripped down to her underwear and pulled out a hidden bottle of whiskey she kept in the cabinet for emergencies. She drank a few more sips of it, watching as the ice melted - creating a thin layer of liquid that appeared to rest just above the liquor. 

Ada dove back into the internet. 

Albert Wesker came from a prominent family in the area. The Weskers had always been prevalent in medicine. Ada could trace them all the way back to the 40s. Whatever was online was purely puff, though. To her disappointment, Ada couldn't find anything that really stood out to her - except for what didn't stand out to her. 

Alex Wesker wasn't mentioned at all. 

Ada thought that was strange. 

Who was she? 

She had to figure out how to get her access back. She had tried it, but she was sure it was the first thing Barry had disabled, and she was right. 

She thought about Leon, but it felt wrong even asking him. 

But what about Claire?

☣

She thought about calling Leon, but the more she stared at her phone, the more it seemed like a bad idea. She drank enough whiskey to make herself tired, or at least, she thought she did, but she was still wide awake.

She had to force herself to put the bottle away so as not to repeat the previous nights' hangover. 

Her phone rang as she was contemplating it. 

It was Barry. 

"Why don't you ever answer your phone?" He asked. 

"Why should I? It isn't like I have a job." 

"Ada," he said, exasperation in his voice. 

"Hey," she interrupted him. "Why didn't you tell me that you had arrested someone with the name of Wesker? Is that what you meant when you told me you knew him?" 

"Shit," he muttered. "I didn't think it was necessary for me to tell you that you shouldn't continue working these cases." 

"It's all public, Barry. I'm not stupid." 

"The day they made arrest records public is the day my life went to shit." 

"Oh, come on, Barry. I don't think that's true. I want to know the story. I want you to tell me." 

"Fine." 

There was silence on the other end of the line. Ada waited, for what felt like an eternity. 

She heard him take in a breath. 

"Not over the phone," he finally said. "Meet me at the house tomorrow." 

"When?" 

"In the evening. I have the house to myself." 

"Fine." 

Ada was about to hang up, when she heard him speak again. 

"I guess me asking you to stay away from this one is going to fall on deaf ears." 

"I guess it is," she said, pushing the end call button. 

Ada had this feeling that whatever she was chasing was bigger than she knew. It was bigger than she could even imagine. 

She had this small hope that Barry would explain it away nicely the next night, but something in her told her that even if he did, she would have a hard time believing him. 

It was all too much of a coincidence. 

Ada began to think about the onset of the case. 

Barry had never seemed too eager to get it solved. 

What did he know? 

Hell, what did she know?

Ada shut her laptop, made sure the door was locked, and went into her bedroom. 

She had taken out her personal firearm, and hidden it in the side table. 

Finally, with The Colonel purring at the end of the bed, she fell asleep. 

Ada was woken up by a small 'ping' on her phone. She thought at first that it was a text message, but when she swiped her phone open she realized it was a schedule reminder. She was supposed to attend one of Wesker's talks that afternoon. 

She had been intent on attending it with Leon, but he was tits-up in a hospital bed. And, well, she had probably completely decimated any hope that they could even have a working relationship. 

She rolled out of bed and took a shower. 

The memory of Carlos came back sharp and ugly. 

She felt bad, but ultimately she was relieved he had been smart enough to stop it before it had become fully regrettable, instead of just regrettable.

Still, it was awkward as hell. 

She got dressed in a pair of black jeans that fit her like a second skin. She pulled a red halter top out of her closet, putting it on even though it gave full view of her black bra. She thought that was probably part of its appeal. She dug around in her closet, pulling out an old leather jacket. 

She pulled a skull-cap on over her hair and put on the biggest shades she could find. She didn't think Albert Wesker had any reason to recognize her, but she was already on thin ice. She had to be careful. 

When she went out onto the street, she avoided the coffee cart. She went across the way, to the twice-as-expensive Raccoonbucks.

☣

Ada walked into an overlarge rec center. This was one of the newer facilities that the city had put up, full of high tech amenities. Ada took her sunglasses off, and followed the signs.

The Science of Living Forever. 

She walked into a huge hall which had stadium seating, all drawing down to the podium, where she assumed the speaker would be. She was early, she knew, but she was interested to watch people as they were coming into the hall. 

People trickled in slowly. At first, it looked like it might be a slow day, but looks were deceiving. Moments before the seminar was scheduled to start, people flooded in. There were even people standing, making Ada glad she had come early to grab a seat. She didn't recognize any of the faces, but it got difficult to keep track. 

Finally, a man silently walked out on the stage.

Albert Wesker was a tall man. He had silver-blond hair that he kept slicked back, away from his sharp, almost hawkish features. Ada would say he was handsome, but there was just something that was _off-putting_ about him. His face was stern, rigid. There was no warmth in him, Ada could see. He wore a pair of slender glasses, the lenses a strange yellow color. It made it difficult for Ada to discern the color of his eyes. 

He wore a suit, an expensive suit. Ada could see by the cut of it that it had been tailored exactly for him. He was broad of shoulder, and his waist was thin. The bottoms of his shoes were red. Designer dress shoes. She could see a watch, reflecting light, at his wrist. 

Ada got the distinct impression that he cared, very much, what he looked like. 

Ada squinted, trying to see if he had a wedding ring on his finger. She realized after some awkward peering that he did not. 

Ada felt a chill when he returned her gaze. He looked at her, for too long. Or, it felt like it was too long. She sunk down in her chair, sliding her sunglasses back onto her features. It had been stupid to take them off. 

Was it possible he recognized her? 

Finally, after what felt like an agonizing eternity, he looked away from her, surveying the room. 

"So," he began, his voice sounding exactly as she would have guessed. "I assume you're all here because you want to know how to live forever."

☣

  



	25. Anything, Anything

❥

Leon Scott Kennedy had been in the hospital for a little over a week.

It had gotten really old, really fast. 

He hadn't seen Ada since she'd come in and told him she loved him. She had barely given him a chance to respond before she left him with magazines and sudoku, and the news that she was moving on. She had a date. 

Each time he picked up a magazine, he thought about how she had once held them. 

He also thought about how stupid he had been. 

How stupid she had been. 

God, they were both so stupid. 

She hadn't come back. When he called, she didn't answer her phone. 

He was alone in a hospital room that had a broken TV and a bad view. 

He hated being in bed. He was ready to get the hell out of there. 

Claire stopped by when she could. He had had a couple visits from Barry, even, but no Ada. 

He slammed his head back against his pillow and lifted his hand to his wound. He really wanted to scratch it. 

"Mr Kennedy." 

Dr. Birkin always surprised the hell out of him. 

"You shouldn't do that. We've been over this." 

"It itches." 

"Yeah, it'll do that." She flipped through her charts. "I believe you're good to go, Mr. Kennedy." 

"What?" He sat up. "Like right now?" 

"Tomorrow morning. Do you have someone who can come get you?" 

"No, not really, but I can walk out of here just fine." 

"Well, your clothes from that night were destroyed. Do you have some clothes?" 

"Oh, ah....no," he frowned. "I'll find someone to bring me some." 

"Great. Everything will be all ready for you tomorrow." 

And she disappeared, just as quickly as she'd come. 

She always did that. He wouldn't miss it. 

Claire had bought him one of those throw away phone chargers in the hospital gift shop. He picked his phone up and dialed her. 

"Hey Claire," he said as she picked up the phone. 

"Hey Leon," she replied, sounding distracted. 

"Hey, I hate to ask, but can you bring me a change of clothes?" 

"Are they letting you out of there?" 

"Yeah, tomorrow morning." 

"Oh shit," she said. "I can't, Leon. We've got some stuff going down here with the Graham case, and Barry is on a tear. I'm so sorry. Is there someone else who can?" 

"Don't worry about it, Claire. Is everything alright?" 

"Yeah, fine. Sorry Leon, I gotta go." 

He didn't get a chance to say goodbye before she hung up. 

Shit. 

He racked his brain. Maybe he could convince one of the nurses to buy him a pair of sweats from the gift shop. Finally, after looking at his phone for an exorbitant amount of time, he dialed Ada. He really didn't think she would answer, so when she did he stammered. 

"H-hey, Ada," he couldn't hide the surprise in his tone.

"What is it, Kennedy?" 

Her tone was sharp, as always. 

"I need a favor." 

"Okay?" 

Silence. 

"Out with it, Kennedy." she said. 

"They're letting me out of here tomorrow morning and I don't have any clothes. Would you mind bringing me some?" 

There was a long, interminable silence. 

"Ada?" He thought maybe she had hung up on him. 

"I'm here. Sure," she sighed. "Do you want me to stop by your apartment?" 

"It's locked." 

"I can always tell the super you left the gas on." 

He laughed. 

"Do you mind just grabbing me something from the gift shop? Or the store? I can pay you back." 

"Don't worry about it, Kennedy. What time should I be there?" 

"Oh, you don't have to--" 

"Time?" 

He wondered if he had caught her in a good mood. 

BREAK 

He hardly slept. He couldn't wait to be home, in his own bed. He couldn't wait to have a working television and access to food that wasn't awful. 

And, above all, he couldn't wait to see Ada. 

She showed up when he asked her to, right around 10am. She walked in wearing jeans a crop top, and sneakers. Her sunglasses were pushed up over her hair. She wasn't wearing make up. It made her look younger than she was. She managed to make it look good, he noticed. 

He wondered if there was anything Ada Wong couldn't make look good. 

"Hey, rookie," she said.

"Hey, Detective," he replied. 

She smiled, though it was sort of a lop sided smile that seemed sardonic. He remembered that she was suspended. 

He had forgotten. He had just wanted to see her. 

Every moment he was with her it felt like she was slipping right through his fingers. 

"I brought you a change of clothes," she said, holding up the plastic bag. "You look better." 

"Thanks," he said, unable to help the dopey smile that stretched his features. "It was nice to see you." 

He was sure she would be leaving. 

"Kicking me out already, rookie? I thought I could take you home." 

"Oh," he gaped. "I'll get dressed." 

Ada nodded her head, turning around. 

Leon was still a bit limited in his movements. He slid out of the hospital bed and went into the very small bathroom. He brushed his teeth and rinsed his face, as quickly as he could, before he got dressed in the clothes she brought him. The jeans were a bit loose around his waist, but good on the length. She had bought him a simple, black t-shirt. It was good enough to get him out of the hospital, anyway. 

He came out, glad to leave behind the hospital pajamas they had stuck him with for weeks. 

Ada was looking out of the window. He had an urge to come up behind her and kiss the slope of her shoulder. He didn't. 

"Mr. Kennedy," he heard a familiar voice at the door. "And Ada, what a surprise." 

Ada was brought back from whatever reverie she was in and turned towards the voice. 

"Dr. Birkin," she said, nodding her head. 

"I can see you're ready to go. I'll have a nurse wheel you out." 

"Is that really necessary?" Leon asked. 

"Unfortunately, it's policy. Here are your prescriptions. Call me if you have any questions." 

She shoved a bunch of RX's at him. He took them, managing not to drop any of them. 

The nurse came in and wheeled him out with Ada walking beside him, having taken hold of his bag of belongings. 

"How come I always end up holding your stuff, rookie?" 

"Wow," he replied. "I thought I could get away with it, considering I took a bullet for you." 

"Oh, is that what you're telling people?" 

He could see the smile creeping up on her face. 

"It's the truth." 

The nurse wheeled him out into the waiting room and left him. Apparently it was only policy as far as the waiting room. Leon stood up, feeling free. 

"Should we go to the pharmacy?" 

"Sure," he said, hoping to draw this zephyr-like moment out for as long as possible. 

They picked up his pills. There were a lot of them, probably a lot that he wouldn't take, except for the antibiotics that were prescribed just as a catch all. The pain hadn't been as bad, it was really the itching that drove him nuts. 

They were walking down the street in the direction of the apartment, slowly. They were circling around each other. 

Leon kept trying to say anything, anything at all, but each time he tried it died in his throat. 

_Anything Leon, anything._

"I bet you're starving," she said. 

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Hospital food." 

"Can I buy you a cheeseburger? You know, for taking a bullet for me." 

"Ah, I'm sorry. Can you say that again? Let me get my phone out," 

Ada smirked, and it turned into a laugh. 

"Shut up, rookie." 

"It's good to hear you say that." 

They ducked into a nearby burger place, smiling like awkward teens.

❥

"I have a date with Albert Wesker," she said, dipping a french fry into ketchup.

"What?" Leon exclaimed, unable to hide his surprise. "How in the hell did that happen?" 

"I went to his talk." 

"And?" Leon picked up his cheeseburger. 

"It was nuts." she began. "He was talking about a perfect cocktail of drugs and good health that can keep people alive forever. It was like a pyramid scheme. You buy in, he gives you the stuff, you sell it, on and on it goes. So, I bought some." 

"And?" He sounded like a broken record. 

"Are you gonna eat that?" 

"Oh." 

He took a bite of his cheeseburger, but he was way more interested in what Ada had to say. 

"So, I bought some. Expensive as hell. Nothing important, though. Vitamins and a new health regime that includes the word 'kale' way too much. But I think it might be a cover for something." 

"Might be. So how did you end up --" 

"Oh. He came up to me. Said I was beautiful. Asked me out. I think he might have ulterior motives, but I thought...what the hell?" 

Leon wasn't expecting to get this much out of her. It was almost like she didn't have anyone else to talk to. It was almost like she trusted him. 

"Ada, that sounds dangerous. And aren't you suspended?" 

"Aw, come on rookie. Don't go soft on me now." 

He was. He was soft about her. 

"What about..." he swallowed a fry, trying to seem cool. "...the other date?" 

She looked like she didn't know what to say. She was staring at what was left of her burger. 

She pressed her lips together. 

"It was nice. But it was--" 

_Not me?_ He wanted to hear her say it. 

"-- flat." 

"You're not going to see him again?" He was thankful his voice didn't break like he was twelve again. 

"No." 

"I want to go with you." he went back to eating. 

"You can't come with me on a date." 

"Then he won't know I'm there." 

"Leon--" 

"What about Burton? Does he know about all this?" 

"Burton arrested a girl named Alex Wesker when he was on the beat. Don't you think that's strange?" 

It was strange. 

"It might be a coincidence," he said. 

"I don't think so," she said. "I've been trying to pin him down for a week to get him to tell me the story, but every time I try he isn't available or too busy. I have half a mind to walk into the station." 

"I can try." 

"Aren't you out of work for another three weeks? For some reason, I don't feel like we have that much time." 

"I've gotta go in and get my paycheck." 

"No direct deposit?" Ada said around chomping on a french fry. "No, rookie. I gotta talk to him about it." 

"Fine, but I'm not letting you go alone." He ate another fry. "I don't have a bank yet." 

"Leon, you can't just--" 

_I can't just what?_

"--you can't just tell me you don't want to overstep boundaries and then swoop in and act like my stubborn boyfriend," she paused. "And you don't have a bank?" 

"Lines don't matter anymore, Wong. You're suspended." He smirked. "No, I don't." 

She looked up, obviously surprised.

❥


	26. Testament

❤

Albert Wesker gave Ada the creeps.

There was something disingenuous about the way he spoke. She could see that his overt charm was winning over the majority of the people in the room. Ada got more uncomfortable the more he went on. She could tell straight away that what he was peddling wasn't anything groundbreaking. But, it was effective. Wesker appeared to be attempting to nail down that tenuous thing that most people were chasing: an easy fix. 

He talked about how science would catch up, and they would eventually be able to completely slow down the process of aging. Ada supposed it made sense, and it might have been more palatable coming from another person, but each time he spoke she got the sense that something bad was going to happen. 

Ada saw it in the glazed over eyes of the people who were won over by it. 

_Now here is a man who can help me out of my problem._

When the conference was over after a very long two hours, some people filed out. Some stayed behind, and another pitch was presented, this time with product. Ada got up out of her chair and made her way down to the stage. 

She had caught Wesker's attention, for whatever reason. She could feel his gaze all the way down, and she almost looked to her feet, down at the dark spots on the ground where people had probably spit their gum out. She didn't, though. She kept her head up. She had a feeling she had just entered into a game of cat and mouse with a man she didn't know and suspected might be a serial killer. 

It made sense. He had the money to pull off a full scale murder operation. 

She really wished someone was there with her. 

She wasn't a wilting flower, but serial killers were no joke. 

Especially not this one, if it was him. 

The total cost of the initial package was a little over a hundred dollars. It wasn't like Ada had that to just throw around, but she was curious about what was in it. If he was selling it so brazenly, she doubted that it had anything dangerous in it, but it couldn't hurt to find out. 

Ada stepped up to the table and let the woman explain it to her. Wesker stared at her the whole time. He had the stare of man who was looking at a woman he knew, which just made Ada feel even more uneasy. 

She thought, briefly, about how Leon looked at her. 

_God, what are you, a kicked puppy? Get over it._

She put her credit card on the plastic pull out table that looked like it had seen a few conferences. There was dirt clinging to the strange, textured surface of it, which they had tried to hide with a runner that covered the middle of the table. 

Ada had seen that runner at the dollar store. She guessed she knew where Albert Wesker's money was going. 

Not to his staff. Not to this event. 

The woman smiled so much it looked like it hurt. She handed Ada a plastic bag with the items inside after swiping her card and making her sign for it. 

"We hope to see you at the next one," she said, handing Ada her credit card back. 

Ada realized how it worked. You sold enough, they gave you gold stars. Maybe you got to sit at a dirty table with Albert Wesker breathing down your back. 

It was probably unusual that he was even there. 

Ada thought maybe it had something to do with her. 

She made her way out into the hallway. There were others milling around, probably looking for a chance to speak with Wesker himself. Ada decided to go in the opposite direction. The center was set up in the shape of a U. She knew eventually, she would get to the other side and find the exit. 

The crowd thinned out. The rest of the space was pretty dark. Ada was silently glad that she had brought her gun with her. She really shouldn't have, but no one would ever have to know. 

Ada was glad she had worn sneakers. The only thing that might make this hallway more creepy would be the sound of her heels on the tile, echoing endlessly. Ada realized that a lot of the rooms were under construction, with wires hanging down from the ceiling and things stacked up in every direction. The only thing it was missing was flickering lights, but they were unsettling enough under the bare, fluorescent light. 

Ada had always been a bit unsettled by unused and forgotten spaces. 

She realized that she had the feeling that she was being followed. Having been followed before, she knew it when she felt it. 

She turned around to look behind her, and there he was. 

Too close. 

"Jesus," she gasped out. 

"Apologies," he said. "I saw you go this way and I thought it was my duty to follow you and tell you that you can't get out this way. It's blocked while they work on it." 

"Oh, thank you." 

"You're welcome." 

If Ada only looked at the words, and not the tone behind them, she might have found him charming, but he had all of the hallmarks of a man who probably actually hated women. 

"Excuse me," she said, stepping around him. 

She felt like she had to get out of this dark hallway with no conceivable escape route but to run back to where there would hopefully be people. 

"I couldn't help but notice you." 

She turned to look at him. She felt a bit nauseated. 

"You're beautiful. Probably one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen." 

"Wow, thanks." Ada tried to sound genuine. 

It wasn't the most creative compliment she'd ever heard. She paused. Maybe she could use this to her advantage. 

"Interesting stuff, in there." 

He put his hands in the pockets of his perfectly tailored pants. Ada noticed his manicured nails. He definitely paid someone to do that. 

Ada was glad she'd just had hers done. 

"Really? You didn't seem impressed." 

He came nearer, a black widow in a web. 

"I was, really. I bought the stuff," she held up the bag. 

"Let me take you out to dinner." 

It was more of a command than an offer. She felt like she had no right to refuse him. 

And maybe, just maybe, it might work out for her. 

"Okay, sure. When?"

❤

Ada had a week to regret her decision to face off with Albert Wesker.

At first, she tried to stick to routine. She got up early. She fed the Colonel. She went to the gym, but there was only so much time a person could spend in the gym before it began to feel like it was just as damaging as drinking alcohol every night, which she tried to avoid. 

By Wednesday night, when Leon called again, her resolve was waning. 

She had tried to keep her appointment with Barry, but what was the term? 

He was _ghosting_ her. 

Ada found it twice as odd, and she knew that he knew that the longer it dragged on, the more suspicious she would find it. 

By Friday night, she had a plan to blitz attack him. She would surprise him, at his house. Or maybe at the office. She would force him to talk to her. 

Ada had a shot of whiskey. She got dressed, but her dedication to 'dressing up' was waning as her time off went on. Why bother wearing jeans that rode up your crotch when you could wear sweats instead? 

Still, that night she got dressed and went out into the streets of Raccoon city. 

Winter was waning into spring, Ada could feel. It had started to drizzle in earnest, making the streets seem slick with oil. The neon lights reflected off of the dark, wet surfaces. Ada walked by the convenience store. 

_Hey, detective._

She heard his voice so clearly, like a whisper at the back of her neck. 

It felt too soon. It felt like a big, gaping hole. Like she'd forced herself to say goodbye to something she was afraid of, because she was afraid. 

Afraid of Leon Kennedy and his naive earnestness. Afraid of his ability to see right through her. 

Maybe it was the culmination of a long week alone that threatened to turn into many long weeks alone, but she felt like he might be around every corner, even though she knew well enough that he was in the hospital. 

Hanging out with Claire. 

Ada walked. When she spotted the telltale yellow of a taxi, she hailed it and slid into the grimy back seat. Some taxi drivers didn't put anything in their back seats. This one had plastered pictures of Jesus everywhere. 

Great. 

And, it smelled faintly of vomit, probably from a late Friday night downtown with drunk kids. 

"Where we going?" 

Ada gave him the address. 

"That's an expensive cab ride, miss." 

"Well, aren't you lucky?" 

He looked at her for a moment before he merged into traffic. 

The rain came down with more intensity. He turned the wipers on, which made an annoying thunk-thunk each time they passed back and forth across the glass. 

Barry's house was out in the middle of nowhere. He lived at the end of the city, down a road that stretched out into the mountains. It was always weird to see the city parts of the city thin out and turn into something that resembled country. There were a few houses along the way, but they were dark. Ada wondered if they were empty. 

Barry's house was mostly dark, too. She could see the light on in the kitchen, a hold out from the days when she had disappeared at night and come home late. He always left the light on for her. Ada thought with his new wife, he might stop, but he didn't. 

Ada wondered if they were asleep, until she saw the flicker of the TV lights coming from the living room. 

She told the cab driver to wait. He was not happy about it. 

She knocked on the door a few times. There was no reply. 

Ada continued to bang, her banging growing louder and more insistent. Finally, his wife came to the door. 

She was wearing her faded pajamas. The sight of them made Ada feel a bit bad that she'd come all the way out there. 

"Ada, God, is everything okay?" 

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Burton. Is Barry home?" 

"No, honey. He hasn't been home in a few days." 

"What?" 

"It's not unusual."

"No, I guess not. I'm sorry for waking you up. Can you tell him I dropped by when you see him?" 

"Yeah, sure." 

Ada was covered with a halo of water by the time she got into the cab again. It made the outlines of the world blur. It made things look fuzzy. The cab driver looked irritated. 

"Where to now, miss?" 

"The Racoon City Police Department." 

"Oh, shit. Usually I have people asking me to drive them away from there." 

Ada didn't say anything. She looked at her phone. She tried dialing Barry again. This time, it went straight to voicemail. 

"Shit, Barry. Answer your phone." 

The drive back into the city felt long. She kept trying to call Barry, but every time the call went straight to voicemail. 

**This is Burton, you know what to do.**

**Ada hung up.**

**She paid the taxi driver when the long ride finally came to an end. It was too much money. Too much money she was sure she'd feel later, but she didn't have time to think about it.**

**She walked into the station, awkwardly. There were people, bustling all around her. Her desk was empty. So was Leon's. It made her feel like a kid standing outside of a toy shop. Of course, since he seemed to have a sixth sense for her, Redfield immediately noticed her.**

**"You're not supposed to be here."**

**"Should I give you your award for the most obvious person I know now? I need to talk to Barry, is he in his office?"**

**"Nope. Barry's been out for a few days. Said he was taking some vacation time. They sent over some asshole from the other station to watch over us ducklings."**

**_Shit. Where in the hell was Barry?_ **

****

❤

Ada walked out of the station with a feeling of unease. She wanted to call Barry, and tell him that he was missing, but she didn't think she could hear that stupid voice mail message without her anxiety ratcheting up another level in her chest. Each time he didn't pick up the phone, it gave her flashbacks to all of the missing person cases she'd worked.

You could call the cellphone as many times as you wanted. You could repeat the mantra to yourself, that if you just called enough times, they would answer. It was like waiting for an ice cream truck that never came. You could hear the song in the distance, but your neighborhood just isn't on the route. 

Ada knew how people disappeared. 

She tried to convince herself that she was overreacting. 

She wished she had someone to talk to. 

When Leon Kennedy called the very next day, a testament to how stubborn he was, Ada Wong answered the phone.

❤

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is a new chapter! if you don't like it, i don't care.


	27. No Mistake, Girl

❤

Ada and Leon walked slowly, and in silence.

Ada had had too many french fries. 

"I think he's missing," she finally said. 

"Who?" Leon asked. 

"Barry. When I call, his phone goes straight to voicemail. He hasn't been home in a few days, and he hasn't been at the office. Redfield told me he took vacation." 

"Is it possible he is on vacation?" 

Ada looked at him, sideways. 

He held up his hands, laughing. 

"I'm sorry, I just felt the need to ask." 

"I think it's way too convenient, all of it," she said. 

Leon was thinking. She could tell by the look on his face. She took a minute to examine his face while he was prone. His face remained mostly untouched by his close call. He was holding his arm, probably without noticing. Ada was sure it still hurt like hell, even though they'd set him free. With that weird sixth sense he had, he knew she was looking at him. 

"What?" 

"Nothing." 

"So, basically what you're telling me is that you're going to continue working the case even though you're suspended and he told you not to?"

"You are too, aren't you?" 

"Yeah," he said, pouting. 

Ada smirked. 

"So that means --" He perked up like a happy puppy. "--that I have to go with you on this date. If Albert Wesker has anything to do with this, and you're going to involve me in something that might possibly cause me to lose my job-" 

"Leon." Ada warned. 

"Nope," he said, cutting her off. "I'm going." 

"Fine." 

"When is it?" 

"Tomorrow night." 

"Why did he make you wait a week?" 

"Because he's very, very important." 

"Obviously," he laughed. 

Neither of them seemed to want to leave each other's company. They were walking so slowly that people were shuffling around them, irritated with the pace of their walk and the fact that they were taking up too much of the sidewalk. 

Ada had intended just to bring him his clothes. Then, she had seen the look on his face when he'd seen her. She saw the way he looked surprised when she opted to remain in his company for longer than a few moments. She had to admit to herself, she was wildly relieved to see him up and about. It seemed like when he came near, the small hairs on her arms and neck drew themselves out towards him. 

She absolutely hated how she responded to him, and how he seemed to know it. 

"Hey, do you play pinball?" 

"What?" Ada asked, unable to hide the surprise in her voice. 

"Pinball," he repeated, more slowly. "You know the game with the ball and the paddles? You see it in children's arcades all over the world." 

"I don't appreciate being patronized, Kennedy." 

"Well, do you?" 

"I know what pinball is." 

"Let's go," he said, motioning towards the arcade. 

"Are you serious?" 

"Do you have something important to do?" 

She realized that Leon Kennedy was probably the first person who got her to agree to a few things she didn't want to agree to. 

"Fine." She followed him. "Are they even going to let us in here without a kid?" 

"Guess we'll find out."

❤

Ada Wong was sure she had things to be doing. Productive things. But there was only so much sitting in front of her laptop she could do, and she was a bit limited in what she could get into without actually being a cop at the moment.

She watched Leon, in his loose fitting jeans and his black supermart t-shirt, head up to the counter to exchange hard earned cash for useless tokens. Ada realized she was being a killjoy. Besides, she realized as she tilted her head, it was nice to see his perfect ass again. 

Why had she picked up the phone? 

_God, Ada, if you don't know by now, you might never._

Ada was forced to look away from his backside when he looked back at her, smiling. It was weird, he should have wanted to get home and get some more rest, and here they were standing in a grimy arcade that probably cultivated many nasty colds and other diseases. 

The carpet came from an era when indecipherable shapes and colors were all the rage, but it was dirtied and stained far beyond looking like what it had looked like. Ada was sure she'd seen it before in one of the pizza joints that doubled as children's entertainment. Ada was glad that there weren't jungle gyms, otherwise she might have turned around and left him there. 

Ada couldn't wait to see what the bathroom looked like. 

It was just an arcade. There were pinball machines, retro style video games, and a few 'luck' games that were probably programmed to make sure that no one ever won. 

Encouraging kids to gamble, of course. 

Leon came back over, looking like a bit of kid himself. His face was bright, his eyes glinting in the low light of the arcade. 

"You ready?" 

"What, you're going to make me play?" 

"Aw," he said, a pout crossing his features. "Are you afraid that you can't?" 

"I hate you," she muttered, grabbing some of the coins from an outstretched hand. 

Leon snorted. 

Ada sucked at pinball, just like she had sucked at cards. With pinball, though, she got better with sheer determination and a wish to wipe that smug look off of Kennedy's face. 

She completely lost track of time, which was the second time this had happened to her when in Leon Kennedy's company. 

She wondered if he did it on purpose. 

"Want to make a bet?" he asked. 

"I don't know, that sounds dangerous," 

"Aw, c'mon Wong, you used to be such a spitfire." 

"Used to be?" 

"Do you want to make a deal, or not?" 

"What is it?" 

"I win this round, you come home with me tonight.”

She scoffed. 

"That's bold of you, Kennedy. What if I win?" 

"I'll help you with this investigation." 

"I thought we had agreed on that already?" 

"I didn't agree on anything, but knowing your brain, I knew it was coming." 

_Damn, he really did see right through her._

"I still need you to help me, no matter who wins." 

"I'll think about it." 

"God, you are so--" 

"Amazing? Handsome? Gorgeous? Smart?" 

Ada grabbed more coins from him and shoved him out of the way of the pinball machine by way of a ferocious hip bump.

❤

She lost.

She lost so bad it made her wonder if Leon hadn't been taking it easy on her until he knew it was important to win. She was fuming, she hated to lose. 

She really, really hated it. 

Leon didn't seem to care that she was fuming, which meant that he had totally gotten over treating her like a paper flower. He knew she could take it. 

Still, she was angry with him for winning. 

When they got back to the apartment complex, the sunlight was waning. It had tossed a pastel orange-pink color across the sky, making it look like melted sherbet had been spilled. Ada felt the last vestiges of winter shaking themselves off of the city. It would get cold a couple more times, and then it would be spring. 

Everything would be blooming, accosting the city with the fecund smell of flowers. 

And then, it would get hellishly hot. 

Ada missed the summer after a certain point of cold. She was sick and tired of it. 

By the time they got back, her raging boil had turned into more of a lukewarm bubble. The warm evening made it hard to stay mad for long. It was easy to forget that girls were being murdered and that Barry might have been missing. 

Leon seemed to know it, too, because he took her hand in his. 

Ada didn't know what was wrong with her. Maybe it was her life, spanning out in front of her without her job at the station. Maybe it was the fact that hardly anyone had called her when she'd been suspended. In fact, it had only been Leon and Barry. 

_Life is real short, kid._ She heard him say, in the back of her thoughts. 

"So, you gonna get your PJs?" he finally asked. 

"Really? You're going to hold me to this?" 

"A deal is a deal, Ada." 

"I don't recall shaking hands." 

"I took your shoving me out of the way as an agreement. That's legal and binding." 

"Ugggh!" Ada exclaimed. 

Leon laughed. 

"Listen, if you don't want to come over, you don't have to." 

There was the Leon she knew. 

"Let me feed the cat," she said, a quiet agreement that came out from behind clenched teeth. 

He looked a bit surprised, which was funny, considering how much ribbing he'd just done. 

Ada slipped into her apartment. She fed the cat, who was honestly probably happy to see her go. He'd gotten way too much attention in the week she'd been home. That, and her bouncing a rubber ball against the wall repeatedly when she was bored scared the hell out of him. 

Ada grabbed her toothbrush and something to sleep in. 

She really didn't know what was wrong with her. Maybe time off had rotted her brain out. 

Well, maybe she did know. 

She was in love with Leon Kennedy. 

And maybe, just maybe, he was in love with her too. 

She knocked on his door. He opened the door after a few seconds. He wasn't wearing a shirt, and Ada noted the bandage on his shoulder. It gave her a sharp pang of guilt. 

He had changed into a pair of sweats. 

"Hi," she said, awkwardly. 

God help her, she felt awkward. 

"Come on in." 

He stepped away from the door, leaving it open and allowing her to step through. She stood in the threshold for a few moments, wondering if she should regret this decision. She shoved it down. She was tired of regretting decisions. 

She stopped across the threshold into his apartment. 

"How's your shoulder?" 

She set her toothbrush and pajamas down on the stand by his long couch. 

"It itches." 

"Does it hurt?" 

"Sometimes. It reminds me that it's there when I get too active." 

"First time you've ever been shot?" 

"Yep," he smiled at her. "Do you want a beer?" 

"Uh...sure," she said, remembering the time when he'd offered her a beer as a treat. "So...why was this part of your deal?" 

Leon came out of the kitchen with two beers in one hand, held between his fingers. He was still shirtless. 

Ada realized how thirsty she was. 

He set the beer down in front of her and opened it with a small fizz and a pop of the cap. 

Ada took a drink, trying to keep her eyes on his face. He took a drink, too. Ada wondered if he should be drinking, but she realized she hadn't read the details on his meds. It was fizzy and cold, and it did made her feel a bit more solidly placed on the ground. 

"Well, the last time we saw each other you told me that you loved me. And then you ran." 

"I didn't run," she said, swallowing more beer. 

"You ran. Like a scared cat." 

"You're so smug today," she said. She realized she was avoiding the subject at hand. 

"Do you still love me?" 

Ada finished the rest of her beer in what seemed like three large gulps. Some of it ran down her chin, which she quickly wiped away. 

Leon waited. And he waited. 

"Yes," she said, her voice quiet. "But you told me you didn't want...me." 

"That's not what I said." 

He was coming closer. 

"What did you say?" 

"I said that maybe we shouldn't blur the lines between partners. But we're not partners anymore." 

"What about the letter?" Ada asked. 

Leon sighed. 

"My dad tried to kill me when I was eleven years old. He stabbed me. When I was fifteen, my mother was pregnant and she tried to leave him. We were trying to leave him. He got wind of it from one of her 'friends', and he surprised us, early. He was at least kind enough to not beat her to death. He blew her lungs out with a shotgun." 

"Jesus," Ada breathed out. "And you saw the whole thing." 

"Yeah." 

"So how come you're not more..." 

"Like him?" 

Ada thought she might have insulted him, but looking at him, she realized she hadn't. 

"Yeah," she replied, flatly. 

"Because my mother, even though she died like that, wouldn't want me to be anything like him. There are things I can't escape...like genetics, but...she taught me how to be better than he was." 

"I'm sorry about all of it." 

"I know you are. I forgave you, obviously." 

She let out a small, quiet, one-line laugh. 

"No, I mean-- I'm sorry that that happened to you. I'm sorry about the letter, too--" 

"Ada," he said, his voice soft...painfully soft. 

She kissed him. 

And this time, when she kissed him, it didn't feel like a mistake.

❤

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is also a new chapter! if you don't like it, i still don't care.


	28. Blissed Out

❤

Leon kissed her back. Before long, her mouth had opened to his. Leon took plenty of opportunity, his hands sliding into the lengths of her hair, running sweetly along her face. The kiss was exploratory. They had stumbled, now it was time to re-acquaint themselves with each other.

The feel of Leon's hands over her clothes was enough to do it for her, until she realized it wasn't. 

She very much wanted to be naked with him. 

Her hands drifted down, over the ridges of his abdomen, fingertips sliding beneath the band of his (somehow intensely sexy) sweat pants. 

He pulled back, leaving her feeling swollen and a bit breathless. She was thrumming. 

"Wait a minute. Are you sure you're not going to just use me for sex and then leave me in the morning?" 

Ada rolled her eyes, unable to help it. 

"What if I do?" 

"I don't think I can handle it." 

She felt him wrapping his arms around her, and she felt him leaning down as if he was about to lift her up and carry her over the threshold of his bedroom. 

"Don't you dare pick me up," she warned. 

"Why not?" 

"I don't want to have to explain that to Birkin," she said, pointing to his wound. 

"Answering my question with another question isn't an answer." He pointed out, pulling her against him sharply. 

Ada let out a small huff of air, finding that he didn't lack in strength even after being shot. 

She slid her arms around his bare neck. 

"I wasn't planning on it." She tilted her head, looking at his handsome features. "Besides, it would be hard to leave that ass." 

Leon laughed, tilting his head back. Them, he leaned in, pressing his forehead against hers. 

"I love you, Ada Wong." 

Ada felt her heart pounding in her chest. She was short of breath. She even had butterflies. What a cliche. 

"Jesus, rookie," she said shakily. 

"You won't get out of it that easily." 

"Out of what?" 

"Saying it back."

"I've already said it," she pouted. 

"You said it in the same way that a person would punch another person in the face and then you took off." 

Leon pressed his lips together and looked at her in a way that suggested that she wasn't getting any until she said it back. Her first thought was to make a bad joke at the risk of spoiling the whole evening, but instead, she was silent for a few moments. 

She had to get better at avoiding making bad jokes that ruined good moments because she was too afraid of their significance to her. 

Why shouldn't she say it again? 

_What are you so afraid of, Wong?_

"I love you too, Leon Kennedy." 

Leon smiled like he'd just had his first taste of chocolate. He looked so happy, Ada didn't have the heart to even try to tell him the trouble he was getting into with her. She was a woman who would steal a letter from a man instead of just asking him about it, possibly to find out information about him that he didn't want anyone to know. 

She had a feeling he might know exactly what he was getting into with her, and it hadn't sent him running so far. 

"Come on," he said. 

"Leon, you're injured." 

"So what?" he asked. 

He reached around her, locking the door. 

He was _very_ smug.

❤

He couldn't pick her up, so they moved together towards his bedroom, holding hands like two idiots. It was obvious he hadn't been home. His bed was made, which made Ada pause. She hardly ever made her bed, and it seemed it was one of the first things Kennedy did in the morning. He was neat, at least as far as she could see.

"Your bedroom is so neat," she teased. 

"I haven't been home," he sighed.

"Tired of me already?" 

Leon smiled. 

Leon decorated in a way that was pretty minimal. Not that Ada minded, it was sort of tough to dress these apartments up in a way that didn't look like you were trying too hard. His bed was covered in a gray quilt that was softened from years of use. She wondered if he had brought it with him from home. He had jersey sheets on his bed, the type that felt like t-shirts. 

His apartment had a better view than hers did. It faced the neighborhood that lurked behind the apartments and the fronts facing the street. It was a pretty nice neighborhood, considering how much of Raccoon City felt like an apocalypse these days. Ada could see the circle of the park. The grass was dead, yellow and green in most places. Ada knew they would begin seeding it, soon. 

The sherbet light had faded into blue twilight. She could see the light blue fading up into dark, and when she lifted her eyes she could almost see the stars. Or at least, she thought she could. The city provided too much light, and too much pollution, to really see them well.

Ada remembered where they were, and what they looked like. 

As the night grew darker, Ada was able to see the lights of the neighborhood blinking on and off. 

Where was Barry? 

She was distracted. She'd moved to the window without realizing it. 

Ada felt a presence behind her. It would have been enough to give her pause, usually, but she realized it was Leon. 

Who else could it have been? 

"You're far away tonight," he said. "Are you alright?" 

She felt his warm wash of breath on the curve of her neck. 

She could have lied. 

"I'm worried about Barry," she admitted. 

Ada felt his hands slide around her waist, his fingertips sliding together and creating a sort of cage against her stomach. It was completely new to her, having someone stand solidly behind her when she was worried or concerned about something. Her brain started cycling through all the excuses it could find to get out of there, because that was what Ada's brain did. 

She fought her discomfort, she told her brain to shut up. 

What did her brain know? 

It hadn't done her too many favors so far. 

Wasn't there something comforting about someone reaching out and touching you when you were anxious? 

Ada reached up. She put her hands atop of his. They were warm, and she felt out the ridges of his knuckles, the smooth beds of his fingernails. Leon Kennedy was real. He wanted to be there, with her. 

She felt his mouth on the slope of her shoulder, pressing sweet, open mouthed kisses there. When he pulled away, the warmth of his tongue left a chill on her skin once it met open air. Ada felt his grip tighten on her as his mouth became more insistent. Ada tilted her head, feeling the full brunt of his mouth on her skin. 

She released a haggard sigh, grasping onto his hands. Holding on, for dear life. 

This was a man she loved. Maybe the first man she loved. 

She shifted. She turned around to face him. Something about this felt different than it had, the first time. Ada looked at him, reaching up to brush his cornsilk hair out of his face. He kissed her, slowly. It was enough to draw a sound of pleasure up from the depths of her chest. 

His hands drew back through her hair as he kissed her. His kiss went from delicate to intentional after a few drawn out moments. Ada was pliant, allowing him to take the lead. Her mouth was open, soft. She gave him small, sweet noises of encouragement. 

She wanted this. 

Leon's hands slid up underneath her shirt. She pulled back, leaving a few parting kisses to his mouth as he pulled her tank-top off of her. 

Ada hadn't put on the sexiest underwear. She was wearing a black racerback sports bra, and a ‘cheeky’ pair of black ‘boy’ underwear. 

Leon didn't seem to care. She was sure her underwear could have had holes in it, and he wouldn't have cared. He kissed her chest, before his wily fingers slipped up underneath the elastic and helped her out of the sports bra. She lifted her arms, feeling exposed. Despite the slow, saccharine movement of his mouth, he was quick to get her out of her clothes. He unclasped her jeans. He needed help to work her out of them, and she slid them down and off, along with her underwear. 

It was funny how she always ended up naked before him, but it didn't take them both long to remedy that. She began tugging at his sweats, and he helped her yank them off of him. 

He was about to back her up against the bed when she pulled away from him. 

"Wait," she said. 

"What is it?" he asked, breathlessly. 

"You first." 

He shook his head, smiling. He sat down on the bed before she did. His shoulder was still bandaged, and he had one hell of an erection. She tilted her head, watching him lay back. She thought it might be too obvious if she licked her lips. 

"What are you doing?" he asked. 

"Nothing," she replied, airily. 

"You're not as good at lying as you think you are--" 

She pressed her lips against his inner thigh, which caused him to suck in a deep breath. 

Ada found she liked getting a reaction from him. 

It was her turn to pay him back, anyway. 

She continued on her way, finding the head of his cock. She pressed her mouth to the tip, before she opened it and took the hard flesh into said mouth, pressing her tongue along the underside of it. Leon tensed, his features becoming unabashedly blissful. 

_Blissed out._

She took more of him into her mouth. 

"Ada," he breathed out, his fingertips sliding into her hair and tightening against her skull. 

Ada didn't mind having her hair pulled, just a bit. 

She teased him, for just as long as he would tolerate it. She was of two minds; she really just wanted to, and she didn't want him to make the bullet wound any worse. She _really_ did not want to try and explain it to Birkin. 

Her hands reached up and slid along his abdomen. He was tense, a tight ball of pleasure that came through him in waves. Ada pulled her mouth away from him, carefully settling atop him, her thighs over his. She looked down at him, her lips a bit swollen from the activity. She caught her bottom lip between her teeth. Leon looked up at her and relaxed, just a bit, his hands finding her hips and gripping tightly. 

"You have something?" she asked. 

Something about this was familiar. 

"In the drawer," his voice was deep, almost smoky. 

Hmm, she liked it. 

She leaned over, reaching to pull the nightstand drawer open. She pulled out a condom, peeling it open and working it down over his hard length. He seemed to enjoy it more when she was the one doing it to him, and not him doing it to himself. 

He helped her as she settled on top of him, her hands grasping his hard length and sliding him into her wet warmth. She released a gasping sigh as she settled down atop him, her hands firmly planted on him and the bed beneath him. When he was inside of her, fully, she took a few moments to catch her breath. 

"Are you okay?" she asked, breathlessly. 

"I wouldn't tell you if I wasn't," he answered, a smile ghosting across his face. 

"Idiot," she muttered, though it was becoming increasingly difficult to keep her thoughts straight. 

Leon wasn't totally prone. He had grasped her hips, and was encouraging her movements. They had done this before, but never with the fear that they might cause bleeding. She moved atop him, arching her back and letting her head tip back as she gave a few hearty moans. The slow movements just made it better, at least in the moment. 

She felt Leon's hands drift along her taut abdomen, and then palm her breasts. He pulled her closer, sitting up when the distance began to feel too great. He kissed her, pushing up into her with a renewed ferocity. 

Ada began to lose track of why she didn't want him doing this. 

Finally, she felt him roll, pushing her back down into his bed. He slid inside of her for the second time that evening, causing her to release a short, pleased cry. She wrapped her legs around him, encouraging him as he slid in and out of her. It became much less gentle, and much more intentional as he got closer and closer to his climax. 

Ada waited, until he came. 

And then, she came. 

Leon pressed his forehead into his pillow as he did, and she wrapped herself around him, trying to keep him as close as possible. 

"Mm, fuck!" she exclaimed. 

Leon only gave guttural groans and grunts before he fell limp, still inside of her. 

They laid that way for what felt like a long time, a sweet mixture of skin and restless breathing. Eventually, Ada felt her pulse return to normal, and Leon's breathing became more regular. When he leaned up, she saw a spot of bright red blood on his bandage. 

"Shit," she muttered. 

"What?" 

"You're bleeding."

❤

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> rated r for really smutty  
> and really romantic. 
> 
> i wanted to get this up because it's my birthday tomorrow, so, have a gift from me. 
> 
> thanks to all of you who have supported me and kept me in the ko-fi!


	29. Where's Barry?

☣

They had rinsed off.

Ada had put on one of his shirts and a pair of his boxers, both of which were too big for her. Leon had put on a pair, too. She had peeled the bandage away that had been put on by the hospital, throwing the rusty, reddened thing into the trash. It was bleeding a bit, but Ada was glad to find it wasn't near as bad as she was expecting. 

She had no medical training, but she didn't shy away at the sight of blood. Still, Leon walked her through it, which made her recall that he had training himself. He told her where the first aid kit was and sat on the edge of the bed.

"No, now that," he pointed, and Ada was forced to follow his instructions. 

"I told you this would happen," she said. 

"It was worth it," he said, a grin stretching out across his mug. "It'll be fine." 

Ada finished with the bandage and patted it down, maybe a little harder than she should have. He reached up and caught her wrists, laughing. 

"You're making it worse." 

"You made it worse," she reminded him. 

"You helped." 

Ada was in the process of putting everything away when he reached out for her and pulled her into his lap. Ada let him, finding that this was more pleasant than she remembered. Maybe it was more pleasant with Leon because she actually liked him more than any of her other boyfriends? 

He kissed her. And then he kissed her again. She sucked in a breath of air through her nose and placed her hand on his face. She released a pleased sound into his mouth. 

She forced herself to pull back when she felt his warm hands slipping up underneath the t-shirt. 

"Nope," she said, laughing a bit. 

"Aw, come on," he tried to ply her by kissing her again. 

"Kennedy, you're no good to me with a bum arm," she replied. 

"Are you staying?" He asked. 

"Are you kicking me out?"

"Now Ada Wong, why would I kick you out?" he said. "I'm starving, though." 

She laughed. She couldn't remember a time when she'd laughed so much.

"Me too. I can order Chinese." 

"There's a freezer pizza. It's not the epitome of high class, I know." Leon said. 

"It's perfect." 

Ada made the pizza. It was good, probably because they were both so hungry. She didn't bother looking at the clock. She knew it had gotten late. She kept thinking about what she should have been doing, but she pushed it into the back of her head. She wanted to spend time with Leon. If their luck was anything to go off of, there might be limited chances. 

They watched a bad horror movie, snuggled up on the couch together underneath a blanket until they fell asleep. 

Ada woke up to a familiar sound. It was the sound of her phone ringing, but it sounded very far away. It took her a moment to remember where she was. Leon's injured arm was draped over her waist, and she felt him pressed up behind her. 

She really didn't want to move. 

It was like moving a peacefully sleeping dog. 

But, she was hopeful it was Barry. 

Leon shifted behind her. She heard him suck in a deep breath of air, and felt the movement of his chest as his lungs expanded. 

Maybe she was overtly aware now, but she was glad he was alive. 

"Is that your phone?" He asked, sleepily. 

"Yep," she said. 

He moved his arm, a silent understanding passing between them. They didn't want reality to intrude, but Ada really needed to answer her phone. She sat up and turned around, pressing a kiss to his mouth, morning breath be damned. 

Ada stole his robe. She pulled it on and skipped across the hallway, glad that it was still too early for anyone to see her. Her phone had stopped ringing, but she quickly retrieved it. She didn't recognize the number, and she dialed it back. 

"Hello?" 

"Wong, is that you? It's Redfield." 

"Oh. What is it?" 

"Have you heard from Barry?"

☣

Barry had been expected at work yesterday, but he had never shown up. They had called, but they had gotten the voice mail message, just like Ada had. Straight to voicemail. His phone was still off. Then, they had called his wife, who was just beginning to worry that something might have been wrong with Barry Burton.

Sure, he went off the reservation sometimes, but he never, ever missed work. 

Ever. 

The fact that it had happened made Ada realize that Barry was probably incapable of coming to work. 

She turned around to find Leon, standing shirtless in her doorway. He was trying to scratch his wound by scratching the area around it. 

"Who was it?" 

"Chris," she replied, quietly. "Barry didn't show up to work. No one can get a hold of him and his wife hasn't seen him in three days." 

"Is there anywhere he could be? Anywhere he goes when he decides to go?" 

"I was trying to think, but no. It's really worrisome that he didn't show up to work. He doesn't miss work." 

"I know." Leon said. "What are you going to do?" 

"Go on that date with Albert Wesker." 

"Do you really think he's going to fess up to kidnapping Burton?" 

_God, I hope it's only kidnapping._

"No, but maybe I can get him to invite me home with him." 

"Ada, that is probably the worst idea you've ever had." 

"It's okay. I'll have you." 

"Me? With my bum shoulder? Maybe we should try to tell Chris. Or Claire. What if it goes completely south and we have no way to let them know? At least then, they'll know." 

Now, normally, Ada would have scoffed at the idea of getting anyone else involved. She could handle most things on her own, right? Well, if this person did kidnap Barry, it had shaken her confidence. Barry hardly stumbled, even when he was drunk. If someone was responsible for his disappearance, Ada wondered at how good they were at making people disappear. 

"When is the date?" He asked. 

"Tonight." 

"Where is it?" 

"I'm not sure. He said he was going to pick me up. You're going to have to convince Chris that we're not on a wild goose chase." 

"Leave it to me. I've got an in with Claire." 

"Oh, I know you do." Ada rolled her eyes. 

"What's that, Wong? Is that jealousy I hear?" 

"No." 

He reached out for her and kissed her. It was something she was going to get used to really fast. 

"You have nothing to be jealous about." 

"Oh really, not even her perfectly straight teeth and her perfect ponytail?" 

Leon laughed. 

"Please stop," he said, still smirking. 

Their attention was turned to the open door as someone let out a small sound of surprise. 

"Oh, dear," It was the old lady from down the hall. "I thought you said you didn't know him." 

Ada could tell by the look on her face that she hadn't been expecting to see him half naked in her apartment on that bright morning.

☣

Leon crossed the threshold back into his apartment after they had been interrupted. He had plans to go down to the station, and while he was his overly optimistic self, Ada was less sure. Redfield wasn't, historically, very sensible when it came to her.

And even though Leon provided a brief distraction, Ada was really worried about Barry. She kept hoping that he was going to call, but he never did. 

Ada was trying to think back across all of the conversations she had had with him in the last few months. Had he said anything that now struck her as weird or prophetic? 

As much as she tried, there was nothing that stood out. 

Ada ate breakfast. She fed the cat. She tried to get on with her day. 

In the afternoon, she tried to call Leon, but he didn't answer. 

She stood in front of her closet for a really long time, feeling unsure about what to wear. She hadn't heard from Wesker since he had asked her out, and he hadn't given her any information about where they were going. 

She thought she should probably put on a turtle neck and a pair of long pants. 

Ada really didn't want to encourage the guy. 

She settled on something in between, a black turtleneck and a pencil skirt. It was more 'business professional' over 'hot date', but Ada felt like it would be a good way to straddle the line, especially since she didn't know where he was taking her. 

She was puzzling over shoes when her phone rang. 

It was another number she didn't recognize, even though she had been hoping it was Leon. 

"Miss Wong?" 

She would recognize that gravelly drawl anywhere. It was Wesker. 

"Mr. Wesker," she replied. "How can I help you?" 

"I'll be around to pick you up at about eight. Does that suit?" 

"That's fine." Ada said. 

"Great. See you then." 

He had hung up before she got a chance to reply. A very important person. 

She decided on a pair of strappy high heels, just to give the outfit an ounce of 'hot date', even though it felt completely the opposite. 

Ada dug them out of her closet and put them next to the couch, just in time to hear a knock on the door. She looked out of the peep hole and found that it was Leon standing there. She unlocked the door. 

"Hey," she said, unable to help the smile that crept up on her. 

"Hey." He sounded like he was a bit out of breath. 

He leaned in and kissed her, and she saw the ghost of her red lipstick on his mouth. She reached up and wiped it away, smiling. 

"Is that what you're wearing?" 

He actually looked a bit relieved. 

"Yeah, why?" 

"Nothing, it's great." 

"Do I sense a bit of jealousy, Mr. Kennedy?" She asked. "Trust me, you have nothing to worry about." 

She really, really meant it. 

"What time is he coming?" 

"Eight." 

"Here." Leon handed her a small, blinking device. She recognized it as a tracking device. "We'll follow in the car. I'll go into the restaurant." 

"Wow. I can't believe you got him to agree to this." 

"Well, he is a stand in for Barry, but I think even he's worried." 

"What if we don't go to a restaurant?" 

"We'll be on your tail, no matter where you go. Just keep it on your person, in case you get separated from your purse. I'll follow on foot if necessary. Chris and Claire will act as backup if things get out of hand." 

Ada was surprised. 

"What? You didn't think I could do it?" 

"I had my doubts." 

"I'll have you know I'm far more charming than you are." 

Ada scoffed, but he was right. Her phone pinged. It was Wesker. She bent down to put her shoes on and shoved the tracking device in her bra. She grabbed her purse. 

"That's him," she said, moving past Leon. 

"Ada," he said, forcing her to stop and look at him. "Be careful."

☣

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> might be typos. i beta'd this myself cause i feel like everyone is annoyed with me today (don't worry, it's just the anxiety) 
> 
> enjoy! 
> 
> if you like this, please consider supporting me on ko-fi. Ko-fi.com/darkandterrible! 
> 
> thanks so much to all of you that have. many hearts and hugs.


	30. Hard to Please

☣

Albert Wesker pulled up in front of her apartment in a big black car that had a driver. Ada had a thought that he was going to roll down the window and give her drugs. He did roll down the window, offering as much of a smile as he could muster, though there were no drugs.

Ada's natural cop instinct told her that she really shouldn't get into a small, confined space with him, but she had to override herself. The driver got out of the car and opened the door for her and she slid in beside Wesker. 

Her body had the exact opposite reaction to him that it did to Leon, IE, she wanted to get as far away from him as was humanly possible in the confined space. She did her best not to look out the window and make sure they were being followed - she didn't want to draw any attention that something might be off. 

She had a feeling this man might be more aware of the unusual than the average human being. 

He didn't really pay attention to her for the first five minutes after she had slid in next to him. He gave her a bare nod before he went back to swiping and typing on an expensive looking tablet. Ada had to wonder if it was her he was really interested in, or if he knew she (was) a cop and this was all some sort of dangerous ploy. 

She was suddenly very thankful that Leon had insisted they follow her. 

Ada wasn't exactly surprised when he spent much of the car ride ignoring her. She might have felt a bit relieved, but it was difficult to feel any measure of relieved in the back of his intimidating car. She wondered if the funds from the 'living forever' sermons were really enough to keep him in something like this, and with a driver, no less. 

Her second not-surprise of the night was when they pulled up in front of one of the most expensive restaurants in town. It was fusion cuisine, something that Ada had never understood and probably never would. Small portions and weird sauces had never really been her thing, especially considering that they felt that the 'preparation' of it entitled them to charge a person three times as much for it. 

Ada supposed it was the luxury tax, the luxury of the restaurant and the fact that these very important people didn't have to share air with the less important people. 

The hostess looked as Wesker like she knew him. Ada couldn't tell if it was thinly veiled hostility or not-so-thinly veiled hostility. When she looked at her again, she realized it was not-so-thinly veiled. She wondered if they had a history. 

Was Wesker a bit of a ladies' man? 

"This way," the hostess said, pulling out two menus and leading them in the direction of an open table. 

Wesker let her go ahead, though Ada would have really preferred walking behind him. Any nearness to him was too near, she found, even though he kept what could be called a respectable distance from her. 

They sat across from each other. She half expected that Wesker would ignore her the entire time. Maybe he asked her here to avoid being alone? Maybe he just wanted a pretty bauble there to look at while he ate? Whatever the reason was, Ada was sure she wasn't going to like it. 

"What's good here?" Ada asked, awkwardly. 

"I've never been here, I'm not sure." 

Ada paused to look at him over the top of her menu. When he looked back, she flicked her eyes back in the direction of the food offerings. 

It turned out that it didn't matter. When the waiter came, Wesker ordered for her. 

She absolutely hated it, and she didn't even think that it was a possibility. She handed the menu over to the waiter, deciding that while she would have normally given him hell for it, now was not the appropriate time to cause a fuss. 

She watched the waiter. There was definitely a sign of recognition there. Was it really because Wesker was just that famous? 

Ada wanted to look around the restaurant to see if she could spot Leon, but she didn't want to give him away if she did happen to spot him. Wesker would definitely know something was up. 

"So, why'd you bring me here if you've never been here?" 

"I've heard good things," he said. He had a stunning way of grinding any possible conversation to a halt. 

"Any places you like in town?" 

Wesker looked at her. She could see a hint of his eyes. Yellow. 

"Not really," he replied. "I'm hard to please." 

Ada felt physical revulsion, and it threatened to show on her face. 

_Hard to please, so you kill sex workers?_

"What about you?" he asked. 

"I'm more of a burgers and fries kind of gal," she admitted. "This place is a little above my paygrade." 

"Ah yes? And what is it that you do?" 

"Background investigator," she replied blandly, hoping it wasn't too obvious that she was lying. 

"Interesting. Did you run one on me?" 

"Who would need to? Most of your life is on the internet for everyone to see." 

"Am I that famous?" 

_Ugh._

The waiter came out with the wine. Ada was thankful for the break in the conversation that felt like it was going to grow increasingly uncomfortable. She took a small sip of the wine, but she didn't want to drink at all, really. 

What if Leon was right, and this evening didn't end very well? 

She kind of hated it when Kennedy was right. 

"Excuse me, I'm going to go to the bathroom." 

She watched Wesker get up and head around the table. She watched him veer to the right and head down a smaller hallway. Ada looked for a bathroom sign but saw nothing. 

Quickly, her gaze rested on the table. Had he left anything behind she could rifle through? She realized, with some excitement, that he had hung his jacket off of the back of his chair. She carefully slid over and began searching through the pockets, but her excitement was quickly dashed when she realized that whatever he was carrying, he must have taken with him. 

She managed to get back into her seat before she was caught outright, though in her impulsivity she hadn't really looked out to see if anyone had seen what she had just done. Her eyes moved around the restaurant, though she caught no sight of Leon. She half expected him to be sitting nearby in a ball cap with the menu held up over his face, but she guessed she had to give him more credit than that.

☣

The night was not very fruitful.

Each time she tried to get Albert Wesker to open up about something, he shut down, almost as if he knew what she was doing. She wouldn't have been surprised if he had apprised himself of the techniques cops used to try and get people to talk, but no matter how hard she tried she was always met with a brick wall. 

It was clear to her that he might have been lying already, though unless he knew that she was a cop, she wouldn't know why he would have felt the need to. Ada felt like she had just run five miles, she was so exhausted. 

She found herself excited to see Leon's face at the end of the night. 

He, at the very least, thought her stupid jokes were somewhat amusing. 

Wesker didn't seem to smile at much. 

This might have been easier if he were more charming, but he had about as much charm as a cold, dead fish. She wondered if he usually did and if this was just something he had reserved for her - but recalling how he'd impeded on her space during their very first meeting and how he'd ordered for her, she highly doubted it. 

Wesker paid for the meal and the wine which they hadn't finished. Ada had barely touched her glass, or her food, though she had strategically pushed it around on her plate to make it look as though she had eaten more of it than she had. It felt like a waste, especially when she got a peek at the bill. 

They walked out into the night air, and Ada was disappointed to find that his car was already there. She was expecting that he would hop into the backseat and drive away, and this whole exercise would have been pretty pointless. Ada hadn't gotten anything out of him. The man was a literal lock box. Even when she leaned forward on the table and pushed her boobs up, she still got nada. 

"Nightcap?" he asked. 

Ada hated the thought of going home with this man. She absolutely loathed it - but she didn't like the idea of Barry missing, either. 

She couldn't admit to herself that something worse might have happened. Barry would come out of this just fine. Just like he always did. 

"Um, sure," she replied. 

Wesker opened the door for her. She took one look at him before she slid into the back seat. 

_Jesus, Ada. This is really stupid._

Even she could admit that to herself.

☣

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry about my unannounced hiatus from this. i let someone who i probably should not have distract me from it, and got a bit of writers block. 
> 
> but i'm back, baby! 
> 
> if you like what i'm doing, please consider buying me a kofi!


	31. The Umbrella

Ada imagined she could hear Leon asking her what in the hell she thought she was doing. She could hear his voice, turned up in concern and perhaps a bit of amusement, as he challenged her. He would not, she was sure, enjoy the fact that she had just accepted an invitation back to Albert Wesker's apartment. 

At most, the guy was a serial killer. At the very least, he was a massive creep. 

She didn't think it through, exactly. She realized as the car ride went on that it was going to get more difficult for her to be followed without being noticed. Ada knew they weren't stupid enough to get noticed, but she kept worrying that Wesker knew what was going on. It wouldn't have surprised her if he did. 

Wesker was quiet. He was a terrible conversationalist. He did very little to ease the tension in the car, focused on his phone throughout most of the drive. Ada had the feeling his interest in her was limited to her waist size and her tits, and the rest of the stuff was just trifling nonsense. He certainly didn't give a shit what was going on in her thoughts. He struck such a harsh difference with Leon that she was almost stunned. 

Leon struck a difference with most men. 

She took a quiet, deep breath of air, trying to steady herself as the drive became more and more ominous. 

She half expected that she would grow sleepy because he'd dosed her with something, but she remained alert. She was thankful for that, damning herself for being stupid enough to eat food that she hadn't seen prepared. She wouldn't have put it past this guy to do something like roofie her. 

Wesker lived out of the city limits. It was dark enough that Ada could see the stars blinking out in the sky. She really wanted to turn around and look into the dark behind the car, but she was afraid of alerting Wesker to something off - but to Ada, the whole evening had been off. She had a feeling of drinking bad whiskey to excess, the feeling of wanting to puke but not quite being able to. 

She could have boiled it down to dread. 

She kept trying to think of ways to get Wesker to talk, but her training seemed to be failing her. Something tightened up in her chest -- _abandon ship, abandon ship!_

It was too late for that now. 

The house was gated. The property sat back far from the road and stood a looming presence in the sky. The drive was lined with palm trees, an oddity, considering they didn't naturally grow in Raccoon City. No, Wesker had had to have specifically asked them to be planted. They were tall, swaying dark in the wind. Ada could only see that they were black silhouettes until she was right next to them, and then she could see the furry looking trunks. 

She imagined the poor groundsman being forced to pick up the fronds after a particularly windy night like this one. 

If Wesker even trusted anyone enough to get that close to his home. 

She couldn't imagine he liked having people that might have been considered wild cards around. People who might have schedules he couldn't exactly control. 

The driver parked in front of the door. It was a looming thing, set up above a tall set of marble steps. Talk about a mausoleum. Ada's apartment was shitty, but she couldn't imagine any rational human being having any reason to actually _live_ in this place. 

Wesker opened the door for her, and the porch light flicked on, spilling golden light over the steps. It didn't give an illusion of warmth, though. Not even yellow light could save this place. 

She got out of the car and quickly checked her phone. There was one missed call from a number she didn't recognize. She slid her phone quickly back into her purse when she realized that Wesker was looking at her. 

"Is everything alright?" he asked. 

"Sorry, yes." 

"This way." 

She followed him up the steps, the click-clack of her high heels painfully obvious in the ominous silence of the house. Even if she had been interested in this man, the appearance of this place would send any rational woman running in the other direction. Ada could only think of two words: _murder house._

He directed her through a dark entrance hallway. She wished he would turn on a light, but he didn't appear to need one, even if she would have appreciated it. 

The sitting room was well lit, at the very least. She could see all the hallmarks of an expensively paid decorator, but no real indication that someone actually lived here. It was sterile, black and white. There was an expensive fireplace that lit up into open air with the press of a button on a remote. He didn't turn it on. 

Ada was actually a bit thankful for it, she wasn't feeling romantic at all. 

She spotted a bar full of alcohol. Normally, she might have been thankful for it, but she had no plans on actually drinking a drink that anyone in this house made for her. She kept waiting for Igor to creep out of the shadows, yellowed and slithery, offering her a drink with a lisp in his tone. 

"What'll you have?" 

"Whiskey, on the rocks." 

"Ah, a no-nonsense woman. I like it." 

Ada tried to give a genuine laugh. Ick. 

"Do you live here alone?" 

"Have a seat." Wesker motioned to the couch that twisted around the room like a serpent, all angles. 

Ada sat. It was not comfortable. 

Wesker poured her a drink. She could tell by the bottle and the color of the whiskey that it was really good whiskey. 

_No, Ada Wong. You've done enough stupid shit for one evening._

She took the glass when he handed it to her. She made it look like she had taken a sip before setting it on her lap. The ice made her fingertips cold, causing her to realize that all of her was cold. 

"I do," he said as he took a seat beside her. 

"This is a big house for just you." 

"Well, when you can afford it," he said, trying to affect whimsy and humor in his tone. 

There was nothing about Albert Wesker that was whimsical or funny. 

"No family?" 

"Not anymore, no." 

"I'm sorry," Ada replied. 

"It's the way of things." 

That was surprising, coming from a man who was selling immortality to others. 

"What about you, Miss Wong? Family?" 

God, she really didn't want to tell him anything about herself. 

"Yes," she lied. "They live out of town, though." 

They sat there in silence, the conversation having been ground to a halt again. It happened a lot with this guy. 

"You're not drinking your drink." he finally pointed out. 

"Oh. Actually, I have to use the restroom. Can you point me in the right direction?" 

"You'll take a left when you leave this room. It's down at the end of the long hallway on the right." 

"Thanks. I'll be right back." 

She took her purse with her, leaning forward to set her whiskey on the glass table. 

Ada went out into the hallway. She went left, knowing that Wesker was watching her through the open crack in the door. Ada crept down towards the bathroom in the dark, though she didn't have any intentions of actually going to the bathroom. 

The house was like a labyrinth. Ada had to keep her wits about her to keep track of where she had been without getting lost. Ada realized that a good part of it wasn't being used, at least not in the way that a home should be used. Almost all of the doors were locked. Ada tried each and every one of them trying to be as quiet as possible. 

Ada managed to turn herself around. The house was shaped like a square, and she found herself passing the entrance again. Somehow she had managed to get around again without passing the room Wesker was in. She realized her time was limited, he was eventually going to come out and look for her. 

Ada's pace slowed when she thought she heard something. She put her hands on her bag. 

She realized it was coming from the floor above. 

_Footsteps._

He lived alone, huh? 

She turned the flashlight on her phone on. She got a quick glance at the next hallway, recognizing the symbol that hung at the end of the hallway on a stark, bleak painting. 

It was an umbrella. 

"Miss Wong."

☣

Ada couldn't help the sound of terror that escaped her as she turned around to find Albert Wesker staring, standing there in his finely tailored suit with his hands shoved artfully into the pockets of his pants.

"I'm sorry," she gasped, not sure of how much shit she was in. "I got lost." 

"I gave you fairly clear instructions." 

He came forward, prowling like a cat. Ada took a few steps back. She took in a sharp breath of air, unable to help her fearful response to him. 

"Find what you were looking for?" He asked, menacingly. 

They were both distracted when the thumping sound of footfalls began to sound off above them. Wesker looked up for a brief second, and Ada took her opportunity to get around him. She was quick enough that when he turned she was already well out of the reach of his arms. She broke into a run, heading for the entrance. It was locked. She fumbled with it, finally getting past the lock and the door open. She burst out into the wind, feeling it rip her hair up and out of her features. 

She had the sense that she'd gotten lucky. Maybe her nerves had gotten the better of her - but she didn't look back to see if Wesker followed her. The picture of the umbrella had rattled her more than she had realized it would. She wasn't thinking that she was alone, in the dark, on a man's property. A man who was likely a killer, even if it was all circumstantial. 

What was behind those doors? 

Who had been upstairs? 

Ada took her shoes off and broke into a run. She ignored the pain she was in running around barefoot. She was going to have a few cuts and bruises. 

She lost one of them and then dropped the other on purpose, not caring if she left them behind. She had a million pairs just like it. She heard something rustling nearby, but she couldn't tell if it was Wesker or if it was merely the wind. Her breath was knocked out of her when she ran head first into a solid person. She felt their arms reach out and wrap around her, and she struggled. She was too panicked to look up and see who it was, only reacting like a cornered, feral cat. The person fought back against her before she kneed him in the groin, sending him sprawling to the ground with a groan. 

"Jesus, Wong!" 

It was from Chris Redfield. 

"Shit, I'm sorry, I thought you were--" 

"This is the second time you've assaulted me," he said, groaning through his teeth. 

"I'm sorry." 

She leaned down and tried to help him up, but he wouldn't accept it. 

Leon and Claire came through the brush short moments after, both of them looking flushed and surprised. Fresh faced. Ada was remarkably glad to see the three of them. 

Even Chris. 

"Ada," Leon said, still catching his breath. 

There was relief in his tone.

☣

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it's taking me awhile to update. i've had some stuff going on in my life like having to work a crap ton and having a family member in the hospital...but i hope this chap was worth the wait! 
> 
> Wesker you creepy frick. 
> 
> if you like what i'm doing, consider buying me a ko-fi! https://ko-fi.com/darkandterrible

**Author's Note:**

> reposting. it's not done, but it will be shortly. 
> 
> i am probably not going to respond to comments, but i do appreciate the nice ones!


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